Witchy, Witchy Wolf
by RedPhoenix13
Summary: A story about witches, wolves, vampires, half-vampire babies, and imprinting, whatever that means. Hermione & Sam, Luna & a wolf of undisclosed (for now) identity. Absolutely rated M. Chapters 1 & 2 now proofread, revised, and updated as of 06/24/13.
1. Chapter 1

24 June, 2013 - This is a revision and update of Chapter One. I realized I hadn't proofread it as thoroughly as I normally do, and there was a minor typo that essentially caused Horace Slughorn to be erased and Kingsley Shacklebolt to be duplicated in one spot. Now it's fixed, for those of you wondering about Voldemort blasting McGonagall, Kingsley, and Shacklebolt away from him and not McGonagall, Kinsgley, and Slughorn.

Hey, y'all, look who's got a new story! No worries, I have most definitely _not_ abandoned The Elements or RODVVUB. I swear. But I could not leave this idea alone. And yes, I am deviating from my preferred OTP (what does that even mean?) of HG/SS. But, hey, let's face the music: Sam's hot. Both the book version _and_ the movie version. And we know so little about him.**  
**

Anyway, disclaimer: I swear I did not commit the crimes of creating sparkly vampires (okay, _really,_ Stephenie Meyer?) or killing off Snape (I still have not forgiven JKR for that, of all the characters she killed off). Or, for that matter, putting Hermione with Ron. For that, I really want to ask JKR just _what_ she was thinking.

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**WITCHY, WITCHY WOLF**

**Chapter One**

Utter chaos.

Hermione felt an odd sense of detachment as the battle raged around her in the ruins of the Great Hall in the aftermath of Harry's death and Neville's slaying of the snake Nagini. She almost felt as if she were watching herself fighting desperately, mechanically. Her ears didn't seem to be working, either, as the noise in the Hall, the utter cacophony, was strangely muted, as if someone had turned the volume dial on a radio way down low but had also been fiddling with the tuner so that she heard a lot of static over the sounds of the battle.

She wondered dispassionately why her body was still fighting. Harry was gone. Nothing mattered anymore. But then, as her eyes scanned the Hall, automatically searching for the next opponent or for an ally that needed help, her eyes landed on Voldemort, fighting Professors McGonagall and Slughorn as well as Kingsley Shacklebolt. Oh yes. That was why. He needed to die. The last Horcrux, Nagini, had been destroyed. Now he was all that was left.

She could do it. Voldemort was distracted by his fight with the two teachers and the Auror, so she might be able to sneak up on him.

She began to make her way in that direction, but was stopped by a scruffy-looking man suddenly blocking her path. Her nose recognized him first. Scabior. The Snatcher.

"'Ello, girlie," he breathed, sending a wave of rancid breath into her face. "Fancy seein' you again. You just be a good girl an' give yourself up, now. It's no use anyways. Precious Potter's gone an' the Dark Lord's the one what's triumphed. Now iff'n you give yourself up nice and easy I'll give you a right good time 'fore they kill you, 'ow's that?"

Without even answering, Hermione sent a silent Disarming spell at him, but he was prepared. He deflected her spell and sent a flash of some sickly yellow light at her, which she deflected in turn, and then the fight was on in earnest.

Despite his menacing manner, Scabior was not the most difficult opponent she'd ever faced. Likely there was a reason he was only a Snatcher and not an actual Death Eater, and she didn't think either high intelligence or remarkable power were it. This wouldn't last terribly long.

"Hermione! HERMIONE!"

The unearthly scream rising over the din in the Great Hall caught her attention and brought her out of her mental detachment just as she had sent a jet of sparkling red light at Scabior. As he fell, Stunned, her ears suddenly seemed bombarded with sound and she nearly screamed herself, overwhelmed. Her head snapped up as she whirled, her wild, untamed mass of curls flying as her frantic eyes searched for the owner of the voice that had screamed so terribly.

Those brown eyes widened in horror as she saw a flash of long blonde curls across the room full of fighters; Luna was grappling – and losing – with a tall man of unholy beauty. He was an odd juxtaposition of light and dark – his hair and the shape of his face suggested origins on the Mediterranean Sea, and his complexion would have further supported that conclusion but for the deathly porcelain pallor of his skin. But it was the eyes that gave him away, for no man, wizard or Muggle, had such eyes.

Hermione began to fight her way desperately across the Great Hall; even as she did, she watched in disbelieving horror as the vampire managed to pin Luna and tear enough of her clothing to give him access to what he clearly sought. Hermione screamed in fear and rage as she watched the vampire fall onto her friend, one hand wrapped around Luna's throat.

A wave of power suddenly burst outward from her, causing her to stumble. When she had righted herself, everyone between her and the struggling Luna had been thrown aside. Later she would allow herself to feel guilty that some of her allies had been among those tossed aside like so many ragdolls, but the blast hadn't killed anyone. In fact, if anything, the shock of the blast had given her allies an advantage, as in general they seemed to recover more quickly than their Dark opponents.

Wand brandished and curls flying, Hermione ran flat out, leaping over prone bodies to reach her friend. Her wand slashed viciously through the air, a wordless shriek of rage lending voice to the magic just as the menace finished with her friend with a triumphant snarl. He was thrown back several feet by her spell, and in a flash he leapt to his feet to face the witch, a beautiful and terrifying smile on his face as his scarlet eyes took her in. They ran down her body in a single lazy sweep before coming back to catch her gaze. She could see a power of some sort gathering in his eyes, and she knew he was probably about to compel her to do something – give in to him, most likely. So she gave him no chance.

Without further thought from her, she jabbed her wand at him as if she were thrusting home the point of a sword and shouted, "_Avada Kedavra!_" The vampire, who'd begun approaching her, halted in his tracks as the jet of brilliant green light struck him in the chest. His eyes widened with surprise as the hard marble that was his skin suddenly began to crack, until it resembled a mosaic of irregularly cut pieces.

Knowing that vampires were not living and that they could put themselves back together if simply ripped apart, she didn't stop with _Avada._ "_Reducto! Incendio!_" The two back-to-back spells hit him in quick succession, thus ensuring that first he was blasted apart and then the pieces went up in flames.

With that done, she turned back to Luna, and threw herself to her knees beside her prone friend. Hands shaking and tear tracks running through the dirt on her face and succeeding only in creating mud, she ran diagnostic spells over the blonde's body, trying to see what the monster had done to her friend. She wept with relief when her spells found no trace of venom in Luna's body, and that the worst of Luna's injuries were a broken pelvis, a few cracked ribs, and bruises around her neck and the wrist of her wand arm; those were the places the vampire had wrapped his hands around her to pin her down. But her relief turned quickly to horror when she saw the blood between the blonde's legs where the vampire had torn viciously into her body.

Knowing that there was no time to get Luna to safety, she raised her wand again. Desperation lent power to the Disillusionment and Shield charms she cast over Luna so that the blonde would be neither seen nor crushed.

Just as she had finished that, she heard a familiar mad cackle behind her. She spun and gasped when she saw that Ginny, a look of fury on her face, was fighting Bellatrix Lestrange by herself.

Hermione lurched into action, seeing the mad Death Eater send a flash of purple light flying toward the redhead. She sent a shield charm at Ginny just before the purple light could hit her, followed by a Tripping Jinx at Bellatrix as she reached Ginny's side. Then the two young witches were desperately hurling spell after hex after jinx after curse at wild black-haired woman, who was giggling away and fairly dancing as she fought. Had Hermione not been so preoccupied with defending herself and her friend, she might have mused that there was an odd sort of artful beauty about the mad witch as she danced, her wand flashing almost like a strobe light.

Hermione was starting to despair, wondering how long she and Ginny would be able to last, when a flash of green light shot between them, missing each of them by inches, and a fraction of a second later there was an unearthly howl.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" All three witches whirled to see Molly Weasley bearing down on them, cloak billowing as she tore at the clasp to remove it. Her grip on her wand made her seem like she was clutching a butcher knife, about to go on a murdering rampage.

Bellatrix howled with laughter at the sight of the stout readhead approaching her as the Weasley matriarch screeched, "OUT OF MY WAY!" at the two girls.

Hermione was all too glad to drag Ginny aside by the arm as Molly and Bellatrix faced off. Knowing that Molly would wish to take Bellatrix herself, the two girls decided instead to fend off any who would try to help the Death Eater, while Molly shouted to her own allies among the Order and Hogwarts' students that Bellatrix was hers.

As she fought, Hermione managed to divide her attention between her own fight, Molly and Bellatrix behind her, and the corner in which she'd tucked Luna's unconscious body. The spot was clear of both people and rubble, a sign that the shield held yet.

As Molly managed to get a curse in under the laughing Bellatrix's wand arm, Hermione experienced an intense feeling of déjà vu. That was exactly how Sirius Black had died. _Ironic,_ she thought, _and utterly fitting. Karma's a bitch, isn't it, Bellatrix?_

The only other scenario that might have equaled this one in terms of poetic justice would have been Hermione killing Bellatrix herself, her wand held by the arm Bellatrix had carved those dreadful words into. But Hermione had no illusions of grandeur. In a direct encounter with Bellatrix Lestrange, she knew the chance of her winning would have been half or less. Her only chance would have been lasting until Bellatrix tired and fucked up – after all, in the seemingly inordinate amount of time Bellatrix had tortured her, she hadn't buckled. Her mind remained intact.

But now the bitch was dead, and Hermione watched, once more with a sense of disconnection from her body, as Voldemort blasted McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn away from him in fury as he raised his wand and pointed it at Mrs. Weasley.

The next minutes seemed to pass in a blur and yet would remain etched in Hermione's mind like a carving in stone. First a voice was shouting "_Protego!_" then Harry was pulling off his Invisibility Cloak and facing Voldemort, and then he was telling everybody not to help. Then he and Voldemort were talking, talking about love, and Harry's mother, and Dumbledore and Snape and everything the Potions Master had done for them, and Hermione felt a terrible sense of guilt fill her as the tale came out. She decided then and there that when the battle was over, she'd get Luna to the Hospital Wing and then go find Snape's body so that it could be given a hero's burial.

When she tuned back in to the dialogue being exchanged by Harry and Tom Riddle, they were talking about the Elder Wand and why it wouldn't work for Tom. Then Hermione watched, heart in her throat, as the sun sent its first scarlet rays bursting into the Hall to light upon the two wizards in the center of it as they raised their wands.

Then she watched in horror as someone, at the last minute, sent a Tripping Jinx at Harry, who, seemingly in slow motion, stumbled just as he started to raise his wand. He fell, and as he struck his head, his wand arced up into the air and a jet of gold light flew and struck Hermione square in the chest.

What happened next happened so quickly that no one was entirely sure what happened, and so at this point the stories of the Final Battle suddenly deviated from each other and from the truth.

The reality of what happened was that as the gold light hit Hermione, there was a blinding flash of it and a deafening bang, and then as everyone's eyes cleared they saw what appeared to be an enormous white _something_ bounding for Tom Riddle, who was laughing at the great Harry Potter having been felled by a Tripping Jinx and lying sprawled and dazed on the floor, glasses askew and arms thrown wide. Voldemort was still laughing as he raised his wand and began the incantation for the Killing Curse.

But the full curse never left his lips; he looked up in shock at the sound of a snarl and saw his doom leaping for him, jaws wide and white teeth gleaming. Before he could do anything else, he was borne to the floor, the large white wolf's jaws clamped shut around his neck. As the impact followed by the wolf shaking its prey like a bone snapped his neck and the wicked jagged teeth pierced his jugular vein, the life seeped from him as quickly as the blood draining from his neck.

When Tom Riddle was dead, the wolf dropped its victim, then sat down on his chest and lifted its head, a great howl rising to the ceiling and seeming to lift the cheers of the Light along with it.

Harry Potter sat up, shaking his dazed head before pressing the hand that still held his wand to his temple. When his vision stopped spinning, he looked around him, wondering at the sounds of celebrating that had taken the place of the sounds of fighting.

Remembering the flash of gold light, he looked down at his wand in confusion, his eyebrows rising in surprise to see the end of the wand blackened and splintered, revealing the unicorn hair beneath. Then he looked to the spot where Voldemort had been standing and gaped, gobsmacked, when he saw the large white wolf sitting atop Tom Riddle's chest, head still raised in a howl, blood smeared across its jaws. As he watched, it lowered its head and, to his astonishment, rubbed its face on Voldemort's robes.

When the great white head came back up and swung around in his direction, he saw that the wolf had actually been cleaning its face. He blinked as the wolf got to its feet and loped over to him. He had a brief moment of uneasiness, but its expression _seemed_ friendly enough, though he was no expert in canine body language.

When the wolf reached him, it lowered itself until it lay in front of him on its belly, head up and eyes watching him. As he met those deep brown eyes, he had the strangest sense that they were familiar. As he pondered this, his mind went back to the flash of gold light. He remembered now having felt a surge of power race from his chest, centered around his heart, and down his wand arm before the golden light arced away from the wand in his hand. What had it hit? As he wracked his brains, he recalled the light racing toward a flash of wild brown hair, and as he looked back to the brown eyes of the wolf beside him, he asked incredulously, "Hermione?"

The wolf gave a happy little yip.

He frowned. "Why don't you change back? I can't hug you properly till you do."

The wolf looked sheepish, as if he were pointing out something that hadn't occurred to it. It sat up on its haunches and closed its eyes as, if such a thing were possible, an intense look of concentration came over its face. Moments later, his best friend sat where the wolf had been just before. She looked down at herself, as if checking that she was all there and in the right shape, and then she threw her arms around Harry.

"Oh, Harry," she exclaimed, "I thought you were lost! I saw Riddle about to cast the Killing Curse and I lost it!"

He patted her back as best he could while clutching her tightly, his face buried in her crazy hair. "We did it, Hermione. We won. It's over."

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Ahem. So...? Okay, I know, I know, no Sam. And he won't be here for another couple of chapters. But, look on the bright side, I'll have the next chapter posted soon as I get this one up.

RP13


	2. Chapter 2

24 June, 2013 - This is a revision and update of Chapter Two. Someone pointed out to me that I didn't make a big enough deal about Hermione killing Ol' Moldy Warts, so I added some stuff. I hope we like the portrayal of Ron. As much as I dislike him for Hermione, I can't bring myself to make him an antagonist - I do like him as a character, I just don't think a match between him and Hermione would be all that realistic. I certainly don't think it would last.

Well, lookie here! Another chapter update, right quick! Just don't expect them all to be like this. That would be unrealistic.

Disclaimer: Not JKR. Or Stephenie Meyer. Nobody here is mine. Well, the vampire from Chapter One was mine, but so far nobody else.

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**Chapter Two**

The next days passed in a blur. Hermione could scarcely believe that even with the battle over with, the excitement was not. She found Luna and got her to Madam Pomfrey as she'd promised herself she would, and that amazing woman fixed her friend right up. Then she went to retrieve Professor Snape's body.

When she got to the Shrieking Shack, she was absolutely stunned when, as she was kneeling next to him weeping her eyes out over him, she heard a heartfelt groan. Her eyes snapped open and the shock of seeing him sitting up, clutching one hand to his head and one hand to the wound of his neck, caused her to jerk back and fall flat on her bum.

"You! You're alive! But – but we saw – ! And then – !" The rest came out as unintelligible nonsense.

"Miss Granger," he groaned, and she shut up instantly. "Kindly cease your inane prattle. My head is pounding with the force of a jackhammer."

Distantly she mused that the fact that he knew what a jackhammer was shouldn't have shocked her as much as it did. Finally she managed to pull enough of her scattered wits back together and asked, more quietly, "What do you need, Professor? How can I help you?"

In the end, she had to conjure a stretcher for him, because before he could even answer, he fell back limply, having lost consciousness again. In a panic, she ripped open her beaded bag and summoned bottles of Dittany, Blood-Replenishing Potion, and anesthetic. He was bound to be in a lot of pain. After a moment's thought, she used a gentle _Aguamenti_ to wash off the blood to see how his neck looked, and though it was ravaged, there was no sign of the venom that would have blackened it. He must have taken an anti-venin before the battle started, or at least shortly before reporting to Voldemort.

She poured some of the Dittany over his neck to seal the wounds, and then some of the anesthetic down his throat followed by the blood replenisher. Then she conjured the stretcher and levitated him before her. She avoided the Great Hall, knowing she needed to get him to Madam Pomfrey soonest.

After that, she divided her time between helping to organize the burials for the Light dead and the cremations of the Dark dead and helping Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing to keep herself busy. She avoided the on-going celebrations as much as she could, knowing that for her, the losses from the war would be too much to allow her to celebrate right now. She didn't think she'd be able to lend the proper facial expressions.

Of course, as much as she tried to avoid the celebrations, they inevitably came back to her, for everyone in the Great Hall had seen how the enormous white wolf that had killed Voldemort had approached Harry, sat down, and then transformed into Hermione Granger. She and Harry both were besieged with questions and demands for interviews from reporters, and she was also inundated with fan mail. Everyone wanted to know how she'd managed to change into such a large wolf and killed Tom Riddle, why the Prophecy had not been fulfilled, how Hermione felt about having been the one to ultimately kill Voldemort, and how Harry felt about his destiny being snatched from him by another. The whole mess gave her an immense headache, and she told Harry exasperatedly one day that she now knew how he felt, and could scarcely imagine how he'd managed to deal with it.

Ron, while he once upon a time would have been jealous of all the attention his friends were getting, was instrumental in helping to fend off the reporters, by turns blocking them so that Harry and Hermione could make an escape and providing outrageously smart-arsed comments to questions the reporters shouted at Harry and Hermione, comments that either left the reporters floundering for something to say or turned their attention to him.

The three of them had actually worked out this particular plan of action fairly early after the battle and after having first seen the attention Harry and Hermione would be receiving. It had been Ron's idea, in a rare display of both brilliance and cunning that reminded them that even the most impulsive and courageous Gryffindor had a bit of a Slytherin side sometimes, however buried deep.

Inevitably, word got out that Hermione had also saved Severus Snape's life, and so the reporters tried to invade the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts to talk to him as well, many of them having conveniently forgotten that he had taught quite a few of them at one point or another. But if anything could be said of Madam Pomfrey other than that she was an extremely competent healer, it was that she could be a dangerous woman to cross. More than one obstinate reporter had found themselves literally tossed out the Hospital Wing doors after failing to heed her warnings to stay out. There had even been one who had decided to get rather lippy with her after she refused him admittance, and he shortly had to take himself to St. Mungo's due to intense stomach pains that, upon their examination of him, turned out to be his stomach twisting itself into knots and coming undone again. The reporters stayed away after that.

Because of Madam Pomfrey's success in keeping the reporters out, Hermione decided to spend as much time as she could helping in the Hospital Wing. Sometimes Harry accompanied her, though he didn't have much of a gift for healing, so he was relegated to more menial tasks, such as rolling up bandages or recording care information in patient charts.

One of the patients Hermione assisted – partially because he would allow no one to tend him but herself and Madam Pomfrey – was Professor Snape. She endured his griping in good spirit, because he wasn't griping at her. Or rather, she wasn't the cause of his griping, merely the unfortunate soul in whom he chose to confide his many frustrations and irritations with being in the Hospital Wing. As unlikely as it seemed, she was becoming friends with the dour man.

The next days were also filled with funerals and memorials. Trials for the surviving Death Eaters would start after the funerals and memorials were all over. Everyone seemed to want Harry to come to the funerals of their loved ones lost in the battle. He couldn't, of course, as there were far too many, but he attended those of his closest friends, and made do with sending personally hand-written sympathy cards and letters to the families of those whose funerals he could not attend. There was one grand memorial service held on the grounds of Hogwarts near Albus Dumbledore's tomb at the edge of the ForbiddenForest.

It was decided that there would be a memorial structure to commemorate the battle and all those lost in it, and to accommodate the memorial, a number of witches and wizards that worked for a wizarding landscaping company combined magical efforts to shift the trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest just behind Dumbledore's tomb to clear out a semicircular hollow. In the center of the hollow and directly behind Dumbledore's tomb was erected a tall white obelisk. It was simple in shape, its only ornamentation being a black granite base into which were carved the names of all the dead Order of the Phoenix members, Hogwarts students, and Aurors who had fought against Voldemort and defended Hogwarts in the battle.

Two weeks after the Final Battle, she received a plea for help from Luna. Completely in keeping with her typical quirkiness, instead of an owl to deliver her mail, she used a particularly large and strong magpie. Hermione rather felt she could actually understand the merits of a magpie versus an owl; magpies, jays, and crows were all part of the same family of highly intelligent birds. In fact, if not for the fact that jays were often too small to deliver much mail, Hermione thought she'd use one herself. Instead, she used a raven. She'd gotten the idea from Professor Snape, who had one of his own and had convinced her that ravens were both intelligent enough and fierce enough to be able to scare off many species of owl.

The magpie fluttered into Hermione's window and gave a harsh _chuk_ to catch her attention. She looked up just as Pi's greeting was met with a _caw, caw_ from Hermione's raven Edgar. "Pi?" she asked. "A letter from Luna?" She got up and went over to the magpie, who held out her leg with a much softer _chuk._

Hermione removed the letter and opened it, reading with a frown the short note written in a hasty scrawl that was completely unlike Luna. It was a request for Hermione to meet Luna at the earliest possible convenience. If possible, she should Floo Luna immediately upon reading the note.

"Something must be wrong, Pi. Was she upset when she sent you?" Hermione said when she finished reading the note.

The magpie answered with an unhappy, whining _mag._ So Hermione sent Pi home, promising she would Floo Luna immediately, and then she closed her window, ensuring she would get no more owls for the time being.

She put the letter back down on the table, and stepped over to her fireplace. She reached for the small Floo Powder jar, pulled out a handful and tossed it into the fireplace, calling, "Lovegood Landing!" Then she disappeared in a billow of green flames.

When she stepped back out onto her hearth rug later that afternoon, her head was fairly spinning with what she'd learned, and her heart was heavy with the gravity of Luna's situation. Her friend was pregnant with the child of the vampire that had raped her at the Final Battle.

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Heheh. Well, how do we like it? 'S good? Again, I promise, Sam is coming soon, I just don't know exactly when.

RP13


	3. Chapter 3

Hot diggity, another chapter update!

Oh, by the way, for those of you reading _The Elements_ I've been getting some rather, er, insistent reviews calling - or shouting - for chapter updates on that. I'm working on the next chapter, I swear! Actually, I feel even worse for those of you waiting on an update of RODVVUB - I haven't abandoned it, I promise, but I've hit a big, big case of writer's block on that one. Actually it's more like the story has barricaded itself into a fortress and I can't get in to update it. Like a teenage girl who's gone all sulky and has locked her parents from her room. I'm calling through the door, but she's got her headphones in and is ignoring me completely. I guess I'll just have to wait until she gets hungry and comes out on her own. Not that I have a teenage girl at home, I just remember those days from when I was growing up. Yeah, I did that, too.

Okay, now that that bit of weirdness is over, I suppose I'll have to make my chapter-ly disclaimer. I'm not the owner of either the Twilight or Harry Potter stories, just of the asshat who raped Luna in Chapter 1. And trust me, nobody wants to be the owner of him. He wasn't even bad-ass enough to survive an encounter with a pissed-off young witch with a mama-bear complex. Didn't even last a whole chapter, tsk, tsk, tsk.

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**Chapter Three**

Hermione was deeply concerned about her friend. Luna didn't seem to be able to keep much down, and though it had only been a couple of weeks since the Final Battle, it seemed she had a definite baby bump.

Hermione and Madam Pomfrey did everything they could to help her, and while her condition didn't seem to be too bad for the time being, Hermione was still incredibly worried. She'd read, of course, that male vampires could impregnate human women, but the only outcome she'd ever read about was the half-vampire child tearing its way from its mother's womb. No one knew how long the half-vampires lived; they were far more mortal than their sires, though still harder to kill than their human mothers, and society generally tended to have a poor opinion of creatures that literally tore their mothers apart at birth. The half-vampire offspring were always demonized, hunted and put to death by vengeful members of their mothers' communities, usually before it was even known how quickly they grew.

Hermione's search for information became almost feverish. While Luna's body was stabilized for now, receiving nutrients through magical means, Hermione knew it was only a matter of time – and not much of it, at that – before it was time for the birth, and she wasn't sure that even magical healing would save Luna if her stomach were ripped open.

She was in the Hogwarts library one night a week after the discovery of Luna's pregnancy, having been given special permission by Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress, to come to Hogwarts and use the library whenever she needed, including after hours, to continue searching for information to help Luna. She had gone there in the deepest and most silent part of the night to avoid those who would otherwise constantly follow her, with open books spread before her, their covers and pages overlapping each other in a haphazard manner that reflected the frenzy of her mind. She was clutching her hair in frustration, nearly ready to tear it out by its roots, when a sudden inspiration hit her with all the force of a bludger to the head.

"Slughorn's vampire friend!" she exclaimed.

She shot to her feet and stormed from the library, nearly running to Professor Slughorn's office. He was still the Potions Professor, and this past year had been Head of Slytherin House.

When she reached his office and, by extension as they were attached to his office, his rooms, she pounded on the door. As an added measure she sent her Patronus to badger him awake and ask him to answer the door.

When a very disgruntled Professor Slughorn opened the door, dressed in blue striped pajamas and a night cap, he asked between yawns, "Really, Miss Granger, what do you mean by attempting to break down my door at this hour?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Professor, and I wouldn't if it weren't truly urgent, but I need you to contact your vampire friend, the one you invited to the Christmas Party last year."

"Sanguini? But what do you want with him?"

"Please, Professor. May I come in? I don't want to talk about this in the hall, and it's urgent," she beseeched him.

He sighed, but opened the door, shifting his bulk to one side to allow her to pass. When she was inside, he shut the door behind her and replaced his wards, waving a hand to light the torches on the walls of his office. He sat behind his desk and bade her sit in the chair before him. She didn't.

He was about to ask her to explain herself, but she beat him to the punch.

She began pacing as she spoke. "At the final battle, Luna Lovegood was attacked by a vampire. He raped her, but did not bite her. She only had a few broken bones and some bleeding in the area where he brutalized her. I killed him for hurting her. Later, Madam Pomfrey and I were able to fix her up, but it wasn't until a week ago that we learned she was pregnant with the vampire's child. I've read enough to know that unless we find a way to get the child out of her soon, it will tear its way from her womb when it comes time for it to be born. If, of course, her body survives the pregnancy itself. But we need more information, and I was hoping your friend could help us, or point us to someone who could." Here she turned back to face him, approaching the desk and gripping the edge with her hands as she leaned in toward him, her eyes intense. "Please, sir, I need you to contact Sanguini. It's a matter of Luna's life or death."

He gaped at her for a long moment, absolutely bewildered, before he finally slumped back into his chair, his breath leaving his lungs with a whoosh and causing him to most unfortunately resemble a walrus that had just been deflated. "Well, Miss Granger, of course I will do my best. I will contact Sanguini tomorrow and ask him to come speak to you and tell you everything he knows about such a situation. I myself have heard rumors of such half-vampires, and have heard that they can live forever just like their vampire fathers as long as they are not killed, but they are easier to kill than a vampire. I have heard from some that they have venom just like their sires but I have also heard that they do not. I also have heard that they can subsist on both blood and human food."

She nodded. She had heard the same things. Suddenly exhausted, she sighed. "Thank you, Professor. I'm sorry for being so forceful, but I don't know how much time Luna has. She's only two weeks along, and yet she looks like she's more like three or four months along. It seems her pregnancy is moving along at an accelerated rate, and that can't be a good thing. I hate to be disrespectful, but I have to insist that you hurry, and that you tell Sanguini the same."

Slughorn looked somewhat aghast at being spoken to like that by a former student, but he didn't admonish her. Instead, he nodded and said, "Very well, Miss Granger. Though it is late, I will send him my owl tonight. After all, he does not sleep, so I am not interrupting his night's rest. Do you want me to awaken you should he respond tonight?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yes. Send me a Patronus. I don't care what time it is. I've got to find a way to help Luna quickly."

He gave his assent, and she bade him goodnight, rising to leave the room. Before she had taken more than a couple of steps, however, he stopped her.

"By the way, Miss Granger, though I do not doubt that Sanguini will have the information you seek or know of someone who does, he will most likely ask for something in return. Likely he will ask for a taste of your blood, or for the chance to, er, enjoy some of your other favors. Do not give him either. He has a particular gift – in fact, I believe it is his particular vampiric ability – for binding others to him once his body has become intimately familiar with some part of theirs, particularly blood or, er, sexual secretions. It is the other reason he is called Sanguini. Do not let him close enough to take any physical trace of you into his body, or he will be able to bind you to him. I don't think you need an explanation of what such a binding would entail," he warned her. She shuddered in distaste. No, she did not.

"What should I offer, then, if he will demand something in return?" she asked reluctantly.

"There is a large coven of vampires in Italy, called the Volturi, that essentially rules the vampire world. They can sometimes be rather tyrannical. Many vampires consider it an honor to be sought by them to join the ranks of their Guard, but there are others who do not. Sanguini is one of these, but the leaders of the Volturi have taken it into their heads that his abilities would be particularly useful for luring prey, particularly of the magical variety. They would have him persuade young witches, for instance, that he wishes to neither drain them completely nor turn them and that they need only use their wands to extract a small amount of blood, enough for him to drink but not enough to harm them. Then, after he has drunk the blood they would be bound to him and compelled to follow him back to the stronghold of the Volturi, where they would then be compelled to give up their wands, rendering themselves helpless, like lambs led to slaughter." His words painted a vivid picture, and she could see the carnage all too easily in her mind's eye.

"As questionable as his morals may be," Slughorn continued, "he recognizes the fact that, should the Volturi manage to get their hands on him and force him to use those abilities, it would inevitably start a war between the vampire and magical worlds. He takes this matter very seriously, and if you offer honestly to help him avoid the Volturi, he will give you the information you seek. We at Hogwarts would shelter him here if not for our concerns for the safety of the students."

She sighed, not liking the situation at all, but not knowing what else to do. How many would she commit to helping before everything was done? She agreed, however, knowing that her friend's life was at stake – she frowned in distaste at the unintentional pun – and when she asked and he said there was nothing else, she left, utterly exhausted.

She returned to the library to organize her books on the table she'd been using, closing them and stacking them up before taking her leave. Madam Pince had agreed to let her have exclusive use of the table in the most secluded corner of the library, and to let her keep the books there so she wouldn't have to constantly search for them whenever she returned to the library. As Hermione was neither student nor staff at Hogwarts at this point, she couldn't borrow the books and take them home with her, so she had made this arrangement with the old Librarian, and between the two of them, they had erected wards about the table so no one else would be able to sit there or even touch the books on the table.

She replaced the wards now, then extinguished the lamps around the table, and then left the library. Silently she made her way through the still half-ruined castle and then the grounds, and once she had stepped outside the gates and they had swung shut behind her, she turned on the spot and Disapparated back to her tiny, solitary seaside cottage.

She used the last of her energy to shower and brush her teeth, falling into her bed without bothering with nightclothes.

She awoke abruptly what felt like a far too short time later, sitting bolt upright, the sheets clutched to her chest and her wand in her hand without her having consciously made the decision to reach for it. Frowning, she got out of bed, wrapping the sheet around her body, still clutching her wand in her hand, and looked carefully around her dark bedroom to see if she could figure out what had awoken her. She froze when her eyes fell on the window and saw the dark figure standing in front of it, its luminous red eyes shining through the glass and fixed on her. She raised her wand. "Who are you and what do you want?" she asked in a normal volume, knowing he would hear her.

"I am Sanguini. Do let me in, _deliziosa._ I have information you seek," he purred in response.

"I will speak to you as soon as I have dressed," she replied, fighting her body's natural reaction to the sound of his voice. He was doing it on purpose anyway. She knew enough about vampires to know when one was deliberately using physical attributes to attempt to dazzle a person into complacency. She was sure he'd give her the information she sought, but she also remembered Slughorn's words, and had a feeling he'd try to get far more out of her in return than she would be willing to give. No matter, though. She knew his game, and she was prepared to win it.

So saying, she disappeared into her closet, emerging fully dressed just a minute later with her wand still in hand. When she came back out, he was still at her window. He looked disappointed at her change of attire.

She raised an eyebrow at him, and said, "A polite person would use the front door. You can meet me there." With that, she walked from her bedroom and into the living room. Wand still in one hand, she approached the front door. She did not open it, however, until she had cast protection charms around herself, strong enough that if he tried to come anywhere within the reach of any of his limbs, he would be literally blasted away from her.

When she was sufficiently armed and shielded, she opened the door and dismantled the wards around it to allow the vampire into her space. He was already there, of course, likely having reached the door before she'd even completely left her bedroom.

She stepped aside, wand lowered but held ready in her hand, and he stepped in, his crimson eyes still trained on her face. She deliberately met his gaze, letting him know without words that she was ready for anything he might try.

He seemed to understand her silent message. With a smirk he said, "Well, it certainly seems as if I won't be able to catch you off-guard, now doesn't it, _cara mia_?"

"No, you won't. I don't have time to be playing a vampire's game of chase. So you would do well not to start one," she answered as she closed the door. She gestured for him to precede her into the house.

He declined, saying, "No, no, _cara_, ladies first, I insist."

She laughed humorlessly, remaining where she was. "Nice try, but I'm not stupid enough to turn my back on someone I'm not sure of, even if Slughorn does trust you, which I'm not sure he does, not completely. And you have information I want, or at least I hope you do, so you don't have to worry about _me_ attacking _you_ from behind."

He inclined his head, conceding the matter. He led the way into the living room and made himself at home in her armchair, despite the fact that as a vampire, he certainly did not need to sit, and gestured for her to sit down as well, as if _she_ were the guest calling on _him._

"Well, _cara_, how is it that an old vampire like me may assist such a lovely little morsel like yourself?" he asked grandly, a bit of a leer on his handsome face. Dispassionately she noted that his facial features and his coloring – minus the natural pallor of a vampire – resembled those of Professor Snape, and she wondered idly if this vampire were a distant relative on either side, however far back.

"Well, for one thing, I'd appreciate it if you would stop talking to me like I'm your next meal. While I'm sure you would love for that to be the case, I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you. As I said, I have no time to be playing a vampire's games," she told him sternly, before getting down to business.

"Which brings me to the reason you're here," she continued briskly. "My friend was attacked and raped, though not bitten, by a vampire at the Final Battle. He broke a few of her bones, but there were no bite marks, no trace of vampire venom, and no potentially fatal injuries. I killed him in retaliation for hurting her. However, we found out two weeks after the battle that the vampire left her a little gift to remember him forever by. She's pregnant."

"Ah," he said softly. "And here is the heart of the matter, the reason you had _Orazio_ call me. You cannot find sufficient information about what to expect other than the very real possibility that when it comes time for your friend to give birth, the child will tear its way from her womb and kill her. And yes, it is a possibility. In fact," he said dispassionately, "that is the way it usually happens."

She shot to her feet, eyes blazing. Despite her temper, she forced herself to remain where she was, though she could not bring herself to sit back down. "Well, it's not going to happen this time. If I have to put her in a coma at the first signs of labor and kidnap a Muggle doctor to remove the child by hand and then stitch her up and Obliviate the Muggle afterwards, I will. What I want to know from you is what happens in the mean time. She's not keeping much down anymore. How is she supposed to continue to obtain nutrients if the baby causes her to reject everything that passes her lips? How do I keep the child from cracking every bone of hers that it touches as it grows? Will the child pose a danger even after it is born? That's the information I need. If you don't have it, then I need to know who does."

"And what may I expect in return for this information?" he asked slowly. His eyes gleamed, as if he knew exactly what he would ask for if she were foolish enough to offer anything.

She instantly and ruthlessly shot down his assumptions. "I'm not giving you any of my blood, nor am I letting you ravish me, so you can wipe that look off your face if that's what you're thinking. Professor Slughorn told me all about your little gift, and I'm not letting you close enough to touch me. He also, however, told me about your troubles with the Volturi. If you help me, I promise I'll help you hide from them. I can make it so that no one, wizard, vampire, or Muggle, will ever be able to find you."

At the gleam of interest in his eyes, she continued, "Of course, you'd have to help me first, but if it reassures you, I can take a wand oath promising to help you if I am satisfied with your help."

He considered for what seemed an impossibly long time. Hermione was starting to get antsy when he finally spoke. "Very well. I will help you."

* * *

So. There ya go. How's that? Chapter Four most likely will come soon. Think we'll go looking for Alistair in that one. And maaaayyyyybe we'll go Cullen-hunting too. Though we may or may not find them until Chapter Five. Love,

RP13


	4. Chapter 4

Well, lookee here, another update. Now if I can just finish that next chapter of The Elements. I've got a good deal written, I promise, but I keep hitting snags. And also, I swear I haven't abandoned RODVVUB either. I'm working on that, too. Patience, patience.

Anyhoo, for the Disclaimer: I swear I'm not the one who wrote Harry Potter. Or Twilight. If I were, I most likely would not be writing fan-fictions about my own work; instead, I'd be using my oodles of money to travel and see the world and support wildlife rehabilitation centers and animal shelters everywhere. And schools. And children's homes.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

She sighed in relief. She raised her wand and opened her mouth, about to cast the spell that would seal a wand-oath, when he continued.

"Your wand-oath will not be necessary. I have heard about you, Miss Granger, and your compassion for the oppressed, particularly oppressed magical creatures. I can scarce believe I am about to say this about a human, but I trust you to keep your word without being bound by an oath, _cara._

"The truth is, unfortunately, I know little more about half-vampire children than you do. It is a rare enough occurrence in itself that a vampire male will engage in relations with a woman and not kill her, and rarer still that if he does not kill her, his seed takes root. And while I have met a human once or twice who carried the offspring of a vampire, the infant always killed its mother as it tore its way from her womb. And on top of that, they are far easier to kill than their vampire sires, and so are more vulnerable to being hunted by humans wishing to avenge the mothers. So I have never encountered a half-vampire that lived past infancy.

"However, I do have a friend here in Britain who has encountered a half-vampire child who not only lived past infancy but also did not kill its mother. I can give you his name and tell you where he may be found, for if I tell him to seek you out he will not come. His name is Alistair, and he is predictable in that he will always seek high places away from humans. You will most likely find him high in the remotest northern cliffs of the Scottish highlands as he originated there. He is a creature of habit and so he does not leave his home much. If he does travel he returns quickly." He fell silent, waiting for her response.

She considered all this with a frown. "The northernmost cliffs of the highlands are hard to access even at this time of year, and even with magic it could take a while to find him. How can I find him if magic takes too long?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes such a complicated problem has a simple solution. I heard what happened at the Final Battle, you know. How _Signor_ Potter's magic entered you and transformed you into a giant wolf that killed Voldemort. The wolf's nose is a remarkable organ. If you have not lost the ability to make the transformation, then I suggest you use your nose. It is well-known among magical creatures that we vampires have a very distinct scent that canines find unpleasant. Werewolf acquaintances have told me many times I smell of bleach and sugar. You will most likely find Alistair where that scent is strongest. And if you should find that scent, you will know it is him for he is extremely territorial and does not welcome other vampires intruding upon his solitude."

Hermione considered this information, the wheels in her head turning and her quick mind immediately formulating plans of action. She would do as Sanguini suggested and use her wolf's nose to search for Alistair, and then, when she had pinpointed his location, she would use her wand to erect wards so that he could not get away. Then she would approach him in her human form so as to make herself less threatening. Likely he would be extremely wary regardless, since the erection of the wards to prevent his escape would most probably prove counterproductive to making herself seem harmless, but the wards were necessary. She _had_ to talk to him, and if she had to magically bind him to do so, she would.

Finally, she thanked Sanguini, and told him to seek Professor Snape for help hiding from the Volturi. She said that he, of all wizards, would be the one best able to help him, for not only was he an incredibly powerful wizard, but he also felt he owed Hermione for saving his life in the Shrieking Shack. If she spoke to Professor Snape in advance and explained the situation, he would be sure to help.

It was so. The next day, Sanguini remained near Hermione's cottage, awaiting word from her, while she went to Hogwarts to speak to Severus, as she now had leave to call him. She explained how she'd gotten in contact with Sanguini, a friend of Professor Slughorn's and an acquaintance of Severus's, and how he'd helped her by providing her with another contact who would have information that would save Luna's life. It was that last bit that swayed Severus into helping; he would never admit it aloud to anyone but her, but he'd become nearly as fond of Luna as he was Hermione. He'd confessed a few days ago in a once-in-a-lifetime moment of openness brought on by exhaustion and pain-killing potions – which had similar inhibition-suppressing properties to Muggle pain-killers and alcohol – that he had come to view Hermione and Luna almost as the daughters he'd never had. The reminder that he'd never had children, having lost his only love to another man, on top of the reminder that her own parents were probably as lost to her as if they were dead themselves, proved to be too much for Hermione. She managed to keep from tearing up until after he'd fallen asleep, but had to leave the room so as not to wake him with her sniffling.

After Professor Snape had agreed to help, Hermione returned to her cottage, knowing that Sanguini would come to her when she arrived. Sure enough, he was waiting at her door moments after she Apparated back into her living room.

She told him of Professor Snape's agreement, and when Sanguini seemed doubtful, she stressed that the Professor was more powerful than she and would be still more able to hide him effectively. In addition, he trusted Hermione, and if she asked him to help Sanguini, he would not hesitate.

Finally she'd managed to convince Sanguini to contact Professor Snape, and that allowed her to begin making arrangements to search for Alistair. The next day found her notifying those most important to her of her plans: Luna, Harry, Ron, the other Weasleys, Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Slughorn, and Madam Pomfrey. Professor McGonagall in turn would notify the rest of the Hogwarts staff, as well as the Minister of Magic. The press and general Wizarding society would be left to speculate as they wished, for only the above-mentioned people knew of Luna's affliction.

After she had notified everyone of her plans, she Apparated to the remotest part of the highlands she could find on the maps, then took on her wolf form and put her nose to work. It took some time, but she finally managed to pick up a faint trail of bleach-and-sugar scent, moving north. It was old, indicating that it had probably been a couple of days since the vampire had been in this area, but she continued to follow it, hoping that as she moved further north the scent would strengthen.

Her hunch turned out to be correct; the further she went, the stronger the scent became, and when it reached the point where it was burning her nostrils, she returned to her natural form and took out her wand. Immediately she began to cast spells, including a spell she had developed with the help of several of her former professors to detect signatures from magical beings as well as spells to prevent magical beings from leaving the area, and set up her spells to surround a half-mile radius. Her wand-tip began to glow pale blue, which was the designated color to signify the presence of a vampire. Different colors signified the presence of different magical beings – vampires were pale blue, werewolves were spring green, unicorns a pale silver, dragons a bright red, and phoenixes gold.

"If you are Alistair," she spoke clearly, once her spells were cast and wards erected. "My name is Hermione Granger and I swear that I mean you no harm. I give you my word, for what it's worth, that I simply want to talk to you. An acquaintance of yours tells me you have information I desperately need. If you will give it to me, I swear to leave you in peace and never pass on any information regarding your whereabouts to anyone, witch, wizard, or vampire. My friend is pregnant with a half-vampire child, the result of a brutal rape, and the Italian vampire Sanguini tells me you have information that will help save her life."

Only silence answered. Beginning to grow desperate, she decided that it was no longer the time to play nice. "Please come out. I would rather not summon you by magic, but there are very few depths to which I will not go to help my friend. If I have to bind you and take you to have your mind plundered by a Legillimens in order to get the information I seek, I will. You will save the both of us a lot of time and stress by coming to me now and helping me," she declared, raising her wand. If he did not appear in the next fifteen seconds, she would Summon him.

She fell silent, waiting, the exaggeratedly loud sound of her heartbeat the only thing she could hear. One beat. Two beats. Three beats.

She blinked, and then he was there. He was rather wild and rangy-looking, his long hair scraggly and his lean pale body covered in tattered, patchy clothing, with no shoes.

"Alistair?" she asked, lowering her wand so that she still held it at the ready, just out of the way.

He inclined his head with a scowl. "Aye."

"Please, I'm sorry for the need to be so forceful, but I'm desperate," she told him without giving him the chance to say more. "My friend was raped by a vampire and is pregnant. I killed him before he could bite and infect her, but we have no idea how to care for her during her pregnancy. I'm not even sure I know how to keep her alive until and through the birth. Sanguini from Italy told me you have information that could help me."

His eyes narrowed. "Sanguini told ye, did he? Aye, he always was one to be taken in by a pretty face, curse the bluidy fop," he grunted, his brogue thick. His scarlet eyes met hers in a glare. "What's in it fer me?" he demanded.

With trepidation, she replied, "What is it you want?" She forced herself not to tighten her grip on her wand.

Seeming to realize the path of her thoughts, he barked out a laugh. "No' tha'. Sanguini might have an eye for human quim, but not me. I prefer my women unbreakable. Ye've no reason to be fearin' that from me, lassie. Nay, what I want is anonymity. I've worked verra hard to avoid company and I'd prefer to keep it that way. So if ye're thinkin' I'll be takin' ye hither and yon in yer search fer information, ye'd best think again."

"No, of course not," she agreed briskly. "I just need to know what you know about half-vampire children. Is it possible for the mother to survive the pregnancy without being turned? Is the child a threat to the safety of other people the way the immortal children were centuries ago? Those are the two most important questions. I have others as well, but they can wait until I see how much you know. And once you've told me what you know, I'll leave you alone, I swear. I can make a wand-oath if you like, swearing that no one will be coming to bother you as a result of me revealing any of our interaction here, because I won't be."

He seemed to consider for a long moment, but finally he seemed to agree. "Verra well. If it gets ye oot of here, I'll give ye what ye seek. Aye, I've met a half-vampire, half-human child before. Name o' Renesmee, lives in Forks, Washington, in the States with her vampire family. Including her mother. The mother was human when her vampire husband got her with child. She survived the pregnancy of course, though not without illness and injury from what I understand. Ye'll have to speak to them yerself for details on how they kept her alive. But she gave birth and nearly died bringin' the wee one into the world, and they turned her then. As for whether or not the babe's a threat, it seems she can control herself. She can survive on either human food or blood, though she prefers blood, but does not lose control o' herself at the first scent of blood. And she grows quickly. It takes only days for her to age months. What I don't know is how long she'll live. I don't know if she's truly immortal so long as she is not killed, or if she'll simply have a verra long life." He fell silent after his explanation.

Hermione nearly trembled with relief. "Thank you, sir. You have no idea what this means. You said Renesmee lives in Forks, Washington?"

"Aye, with the Cullen family in a large house in the woods just outside the town. Ye'll want to approach carefully, o' course, being that there are eight vampires in the family. Oh, and one last bit ye'll want to know. They're allied with a large group o' shape-shifters, youths that turn into giant wolves. Not unlike yer own form at that," he remarked, tilting his head. "Ye'll want to be extra careful when ye go. If the Cullens don't smell ye first, the wolves will. And there's even more o' them."

She nodded her understanding. "Right. Thank you." Without further ado, she raised her wand, pointing it straight up, and opened her mouth. "I, Hermione Granger, do hereby swear upon my wand that I will speak to no-one of my meeting with the vampire Alistair of the Scottish Highlands and that by extension, he shall not be disturbed by anyone, human or vampire, as a direct result of this meeting." The tip of her wand began to glow, and the glow moved steadily along the length of her wand and then her arm before settling for a brief moment on her chest over her heart and then dissolving.

"Now if anyone comes to disturb you, it won't have anything to do with our meeting. I'm also magically bound not to say anything to anyone about meeting you to ask you about half-vampire children."

He nodded his acceptance of her oath, and answered. "Good. Now then. If there's nothin' else?" he inquired.

She shook her head. "No, that's it. I can't thank you enough, sir. Your information has been invaluable. Enjoy your peace and quiet." With that, she waved her wand again to lower the wards and Disapparated.

She returned to her flat and immediately sent Edgar to Luna with a message saying she'd struck gold in the search to get Luna help. She explained about the Cullens and Renesmee, and said that she would be spending tomorrow making arrangements. She needed to arrange an International Portkey to the Ministry of Magic in the United States and find a place for them to stay.

Luna responded promptly, asking if Hermione would mind terribly her coming over to stay the night. Her hormones were particularly wonky tonight and she had no desire to be alone.

Hermione bade her friend come over, and an hour later Luna Flooed into Hermione's flat with a small bag of overnight things in one hand, clutching her swollen belly in the other. The brunette took one look at her friend, and immediately scrapped her plans for arranging a Portkey. Just trying to get hold of the American Ministry would take longer than she liked, and then there would be the whole kerfuffle revolving around either finding one already scheduled or creating and scheduling one, which would take even more time. No, they'd have to do this the Muggle way. The travel itself would take longer than the Portkey, but the arrangements would be made much more quickly.

As luck would have it, Hermione managed to get two seats together on a flight scheduled for six in the evening tomorrow, which meant that it would be approximately eleven in the morning in Washington. They would be arriving in Seattle some nine hours later, around three in the morning here and eight in the evening there. Lovely. That would give them time to rest before beginning the search for the Cullens the next day.

In regards to finding a place to stay, Hermione had booked rooms at a bed-and-breakfast in Port Angeles, a much larger town perhaps an hour from Forks. That would do quite nicely for the first night or two, and then, if their search took longer than Hermione was expecting, they could decide what to do next.

Once the arrangements were made, Hermione took some time to explain Muggle travel to Luna so as to avoid both stressing Luna out and causing a scene should Luna react to Muggle airports and bed-and-breakfasts in the same way Hagrid or Mr. Weasley might.

With all their plans and arrangements made, Hermione began sending letters to those among their friends who knew of Luna's affliction, who knew that Hermione had gone searching for Alistair, and who knew that there was a possibility that Hermione at least would have to travel abroad. Everyone sent replies exclaiming something along the lines of how relieved they were and proclaiming that they would try to make it for a last visit before the two witches left.

* * *

So, we didn't _quite_ get to the Cullen hunting, but I promise that will comprise the beginning of Chapter 5. And I _think_ we'll be encountering a certain group of rather large, fierce furballs in that chapter as well. And if we do, I _think_ we'll be there when Hermione finds out what it's like to be on the receiving end of imprintation. Oops, I just gave away something big, didn't I? Although, if you didn't figure _that_ one out from my summary, shame on you. That deserves a smack upside the head and a head-shaking from me.

RP13


	5. Chapter 5

Wheeee, another update! We're skippin' right along! No writer's block for this story! Of course, now that I've said that, I'm going to come up with a really great idea, get it all out, and then be stumped as to how to proceed from there. Oh, well, I guess I'll work that out when I get there.

Disclaimer: Not. Mine. All that's mine is the bed-and-breakfast, its proprietress, and the relative/visitor of Mike's mama's friend. Everything else belongs to JKR or SM.

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Hermione left Luna sleeping after casting a spell over the blonde that would alert her should there be a complication with Luna's pregnancy. She penned a note to Luna and left it on Luna's bedside table so that her friend would not wonder where she had gone.

She donned a blue soft cotton long-sleeved button-down shirt and tucked it into a pair of blue jeans that fit her like a glove. On her feet went a pair of dark brown leather hiking boots laced tight. Her wand went into a holster strapped to her wrist, hidden by her sleeve, while a pair of knives slipped into her boots. Her beaded bag hung by its drawstrings from her belt. Of course anyone would tell you hanging a bag like that from a belt was a stupid idea, but then, her bag was no ordinary bag, was it? Even the most skilled pickpocket would be stumped trying to steal her bag, for the two knots that tied her bag to her belt and sealed the bag shut could not be undone but by her own fingers – and that had been a rather tricky bit of wandless magic to master – and neither could the strings or the bag itself be cut by blade. No, if a person wanted her bag, they'd have to take her with it.

She slipped out the door and shut it noiselessly behind her before descending the stairs to the spacious foyer below. She passed the witch behind the desk, the owner of the bed-and-breakfast, and nodded silently to her. Hermione had spoken to her yesterday while Luna got settled in the room and had given the woman a modified version of her friend's story; the witch knew that Luna was pregnant and that it was a very difficult pregnancy, but was completely unaware of just what kind of child Luna carried. But she knew that Hermione was searching for specific help for her friend and had agreed wholeheartedly to keep an eye and an ear out for any troubles Luna might be having. Given that the witch had actually had a background in healing before retiring to open the bed-and-breakfast, Hermione was much reassured regarding the well-being of her friend while she was away.

She paused briefly, collecting her thoughts and reviewing her plan of action before Apparating away to the edge of the town of Forks. She draped the Invisibility Cloak she'd borrowed from Harry over herself just before popping away, so that in case there were in fact people – or security cameras for that matter – around, she'd be able to find a safe place to become visible without attracting notice.

She had decided to appear in a small neighborhood just a block away from the town square. It was midmorning, so by now everyone should be gone from the streets and shut away at work or school. When she made her appearance in the middle of the street, she looked about, gathering her bearings, and decided to make for the town square, lingering behind the shops at its edge. She found a promising alleyway between a small café and what looked to be a tiny, not very well-frequented museum dedicated to the town's history, and checked carefully for the presence of security cameras. When she was satisfied that there were none, she ducked between a couple of dumpsters to pull the Invisibility Cloak off her body before casting a mild Notice-Me-Not Charm set to fade gradually as she emerged from the alleyway; that way, no one would notice her emerging right away, and by the time she was fully visible and noticeable, untrained eyes would think she had been about the entire time.

Her face lit up when she saw the town's library, and she made a beeline for it without another thought. She ignored the obviously limited bookshelves, however, in favor of the computers. Oh yes, Hermione Gryffindor-Princess-and-most-brilliant-witch-of-he r-age Granger was still very much in touch with her Muggle heritage, and speaking as a person with a foot in each world, she could say purely without bias that the Muggle way of searching for written information was infinitely superior to the Wizarding way. In the Wizarding World, the speed and efficiency at which relevant information could be sorted from useless information was entirely dependent upon the speed at which the searcher could read and comprehend both relevant and useless information as well as the searcher's perseverance. In the Muggle world, however, a machine could do the exact same thing in tiny fractions of the time it would take her and her own two eyes.

But halfway to the computers, however, she changed her mind and backtracked, heading instead for the stacks of phone- and address-books. She knew it was unlikely she would find the Cullens there, but she thought she'd look anyway.

She had grabbed one of the yellow-paged books and had just started to flip through it when she caught the hushed tones of town gossip behind her, gossip that apparently had something to do with the exact family she sought.

She continued flipping through and staring at the pages, her eyes moving but sightless, as she listened while appearing to still be paying attention solely to the yellow pages before her. What she heard made her use of the yellow pages pointless.

According to the townswoman who was speaking to her visiting…friend? relative?...the daughter of the town's Chief of Police, Bella something-or-other, had arrived new in town perhaps a year and a half to two years ago and had sparked the interest of the entire town, including her dear, sweet son – Matt? Moe? – who had developed an instant crush on the pretty out-of-towner. But his poor heart had been broken when instead she fell in with those Cullens.

_The Cullens?_ asked the other, neatly taking the bait set by the gossip's tone.

_Oh, yes, this family of, well, they were rather scandalous themselves, now that she thought about it. Imagine, the young doctor and his wife with so many adoptees, but no, of course, that part was not the scandalous part, no, of course Dr. Cullen and his wife could only be considered paragons of society for taking in so many parentless souls, bless their hearts, _the first said sagely._ No, the scandalous part was that even though all the children were adopted and biologically unrelated, they were all paired off. Yes, that's right. Well, four of them were. The youngest boy, that Edward, was essentially the fifth wheel. At least until Bella came along._

_At any rate, Bella fell in with the Cullens, and from there things turned strange. Her poor Mike said that she stopped spending much time with her first friends, which was to say, him and his friends, and there was a period of several days where she and several of those Cullens disappeared, only to return with her all banged up. Some tale about her having a fight with that boy and running off to visit her mother and falling down a flight of stairs at a hotel when he caught up to her and begged her to talk to him. Of course when they came back things seemed right as rain but Mikey never was all that sure. He suspected domestic violence, but he had no way of proving it. _

Even with her increasing feelings of contempt for the gossip's apparent opinion of these Cullens, Hermione found herself listening intently. Soon she almost wished she hadn't, for it quickly became clear that this was _the_ town gossip whose very existence seemed to hinge upon her gossip, and Hermione started to grow bored with the petty gossip. She forced herself to continue listening.

_Then there was a time, several months later, when all the Cullens disappeared and seemed to leave her behind. But instead of coming to her senses and moving on, maybe with her Mikey, she fell into a depression. She completely ignored her other friends, all of whom were very concerned. But then she disappeared again in the spring, only to return with the Cullens again. This time they seemed to be back for good, and so poor Mikey gave up. They all graduated from high school, and shortly after that they found out that Bella and her Cullen were…wait for it…getting married. Imagine! Married at eighteen, fresh out of high school! Of course, everyone knew what must have happened, and so she made her Mikey take that Jessica girl to the wedding and look to see if Bella looked like she had a bun in the oven. Of course, he came back saying he couldn't tell, but she was sure that was the only possible explanation. But then apparently Bella went and contracted some terminal illness on the honeymoon and never came back. Instead, the Cullens took her away to some distant country for treatment – Sweden, she thought. And so now the Cullens' vast home sat all but abandoned in the woods off the County Road, and no one had heard from them since. It was all very tragic, and the poor Chief, bless his heart, losing his only daughter like that! Just terrible._

The other echoed the gossip's sentiments as they moved off, while Hermione sat rubbing her now throbbing temples. That was a gossip for you. They started off blowing one direction, and by the time the whole epic story was done they were blowing the other direction. But she had still found some useful information. After just a bit more searching, she had the location of the Cullen home. Apparently the county road was The County Road – or rather, it was County road 57, but it was the only County Road going through the town.

And that was all she needed. Armed with her new knowledge, she left the library and Apparated to the woods near where she now knew the Cullens resided. Once more she assumed the wolf form, and she realized rather belatedly, as she had done this a few times before now, that she had taken for granted that her clothing and wand shifted with her. It made things infinitely simpler. For one, she didn't have to worry about carrying a pile of clothing in her mouth all the time. And far more importantly, she didn't have to worry about carrying her wand in her mouth either.

She took off at a lope, her nose to the ground as she searched for the scent trail of vampires. It didn't take long to find it at all; a minute into her search and she sneezed violently. She had found them.

The inexperienced female wolf in her wanted to prance and jump about in joy, but she forced herself to keep following the trail. As she continued moving, the paranoid war veteran in her began to feel as if she were being watched. She tried to shake it off, telling herself it was just that the strong scent of so many vampires made her uneasy.

She was only partially successful; though she'd managed to relax a little, she was still jumpy. So when she heard a faint rustle of leaves caused by paws other than her own, she whirled, already assuming a defensive stance. And the human girl in her felt ready to faint when she saw what appeared to be more than a dozen canines her own size emerging from the trees before her.

Ears went flat against the head and lips curled away from teeth in a warning as she crouched a little in front of them. They all stopped to watch her for a moment, but then the enormous black male at the front moved forward. Immediately a growl started to rumble from her chest as her stance straightened, the fur on her back rising.

Oh, he couldn't let that go. Of course, she wasn't quite challenging him for dominance; she had no desire to wrest the pack from him. But she was still letting him know quite clearly that he'd best not try anything with her, for _she_ would not be dominated. And of course, the black wolf took _that_ as a challenge. No strange wolf would come onto territory they had worked out an alliance with vampires for and expect to leave without being confronted. He'd have to teach the white wolf a lesson in just who was Alpha and who was not.

Now Hermione was a smart witch, so it followed that the wolf within would be smart, too. She knew that while she might possibly be able to take the black wolf in a fight despite his larger size – for she was a fierce fighter, too – the idea of her taking on the entire pack was as likely and laughable as Voldemort donning a tutu and dancing to Swan Lake. So she did what smart wolf-girl would do. She turned tail and ran, hoping the other wolves would think they'd managed to run her off.

What she didn't know was that the wolves knew, or had an idea, what she was, and knew they couldn't let her get away. They had to find out who she was, where she'd come from, and how she was able to transform like them. So at a single command from the Alpha, they took off after her.

Of course, catching up to her was far more easily said than done. She was faster than almost all of them. Sam knew there was only one option.

_Leah, go! Catch her and keep her busy till we can catch up! But be careful. We don't know how she fights, _he ordered.

She barked her agreement and pulled ahead of the pack.

Hermione heard pounding paws slowly catching up to her, and she ran faster. But the two females were well-matched for speed, and she couldn't shake the other one. Finally she lost her patience, and whirled to confront the other.

White and silver faced off, slowly circling each other. The white female's fur was puffed out as she tried to intimidate the silver into backing off, warning growls rumbling from deep within her chest. But the silver refused to either back off or allow herself to be provoked into a fight. Sam had a good point, after all: they had no idea how the white female fought.

It didn't take long, however, for the rest of the pack to catch up, and they quickly formed a circle, effectively surrounding the two females and cutting off any escape routes.

Hermione, her heart in her throat, watched with her ears now flat against her head and her teeth fully bared as the black male approached and looked at the silver female, almost as if speaking to her. The silver retreated, taking his place in the circle, while the black male faced the white female. Despite the signs of fear the female couldn't help showing – ears flat, teeth fully bared, tail tucked under, and body crouched– she refused to submit. If he came any closer, she'd attack.

Of course, the black male didn't heed the warning. Oh no, he kept coming. So Hermione lunged, her jaws snapping shut millimeters from where his muzzle had been moments before.

And that was that. The pack watched intently as their Alpha allowed the wolf to take over completely and engaged the white female in a fight for dominance. They all watched as he did them proud; Sam had a natural fighter's instinct that, in combination with the instincts of the wolf, seemed to be giving him the upper hand, though not by much, it seemed.

Leah realized how wise Sam had been to tell her to be careful when confronting the other female as they didn't know how she fought. It turned out she was vicious in a fight as well as clever, and it seemed that the only reason she appeared to be losing the fight was because she was unused to the instincts of the wolf.

Hermione was struggling to tamp down her panic and use her head. If she could only outsmart him…but then she'd have to get past the other wolves, too. The situation wasn't looking good. And it wasn't like she could count on a rescue, either. No one else had followed her and Luna to the States, and Luna couldn't even Apparate, much less perform a daring rescue.

She was trying to decide what to do when the inevitable happened: her foot caught on something and she stumbled. The male was over her in a flash, but to her shock, other than biting into the scruff at the back of her neck, not even breaking the skin, he didn't harm her. Instead, he bore her to the ground until she lay on her belly, immobilized by his weight.

As she lay there and he rested over her with no signs of getting up, she knew she had no other choice. She'd engaged him in this form thinking that he'd tear her to pieces before she could reach her wand and that she'd have a better chance as a wolf. But now that he'd immobilized her large wolf body, perhaps as a human she'd be able to reach her wand and slip out from under him and then Apparate away. She took a deep breath and in the next instant she was a witch again, and she rolled to her back beneath him now that his hold on her neck had broken. She had just pulled her wand from her sleeve when, to her complete and utter astonishment, he seemed to shudder as his outline blurred, and then she was blinking rather stupidly up at a copper-skinned human face hovering over hers.

Sam – the human, not the wolf – had been waiting, in the back of his mind, for her to shift back to human ever since the fight started. The purpose of the fight had been to dominate her with the hope that the magic that had brought the wolves out in his pack would be the same for her and would thus force her under the influence of the Alpha's command so that he could force her to resume her true form and get answers from her. So he was a little surprised when she shifted without his command – apparently still not under the influence of the Alpha's command – but he'd been expecting the shift at some point, so he was still prepared. As soon as he'd realized she'd shifted, he followed suit, forgetting that he was naked as the day he was born.

As soon as the change was complete, he looked at her, meeting her eyes, and that was it. He was lost. Or rather, he knew exactly where he was, but forgot that he'd ever been anywhere else, not that anywhere else mattered but right there, with her beneath him, pressed against him with her body cradling his. For all that he knew of the rest of the world, it didn't exist and the two of them were suspended together in space, and for him, she was all that there was, ever had been, ever would be.

And then she opened her mouth and he thought he'd die happy, even if the question that emerged was one he wouldn't have expected in a thousand years. "Who the hell are you and why on earth are you naked?"

"I could ask you the same question," he answered thickly and without thinking, still rather dazed.

"You could, except I'm not."

Now that finally brought him back to his senses. He looked, and sure enough, he was lying buck naked on top of a fully clothed woman who had a stick in her hand. A stick that she clutched as if she were getting ready to use it to poke his eye out.

Well, fuck. This was getting really awkward, really fast. Without even looking, he knew none of his pack had shifted and were still watching him, as was she.

"Do you mind?" she asked archly. "I don't know if you've ever had someone your size lying on top of you like this, but I do rather value oxygen and I'm not getting much right now. If you'll kindly get off me, I'll even give you some clothes."

He blinked. "But your clothes won't fit me. You're way too small."

She made a face. "Yes, thank you for pointing out my lack of height. I appreciate it. Of course I'm not giving you my clothes. But by all means, if you don't believe me, you can just walk around in nothing. I'm sure it's giving your friends a laugh," she snipped.

Disgruntled, Sam realized she was probably right. His packmates were likely having the time of their lives at his expense. He huffed a sigh, and got to his feet. Not particularly bothered by his own nudity – he never seemed to have inherited a sense of modesty – he stood and then offered her a hand to help her up.

Hermione flushed a brilliant pink as the man – _god!_ her mind supplied giddily – offered her a hand, apparently totally unconcerned about his state of undress. She took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet; then she shook her sleeves back to ensure her wand free movement before pointing it at him.

She waved her wand with a muttered, "_Vestiet illum_," and he blinked in surprise as he suddenly found himself clothed, at least with a plain black tee-shirt and a pair of denim shorts.

He stared at her in shock, and she said defensively, "What? Didn't I tell you I'd give you some clothes? I'm sorry if they're not the most fashionable, but I'm not exactly a designer or a tailor, you know."

"I think you and I need to have a talk," he said finally, deciding to refrain from asking any one of the thousand questions that had suddenly popped into his head. Hopefully he'd not only be able to get answers from her, but would also be able to explain about himself, the pack, and the imprint. She _had_ to understand the imprint. He'd be lost forever if she refused to understand or accept it.

"Can it wait? Honestly, I'm in a rush." When he frowned, wondering what could possibly take precedence over the exchange of information that would allow them to better understand each other and their situation, she continued before he could protest. "No, really. When I say I'm in a rush, I'm not in the late-for-work rush most people are usually in. No, I'm in the racing-against-the-clock-to-save-my-best-friend's- life-because-she's-pregnant-with-a-child-that-coul d-kill-her kind of rush. I need to find the Cullens because they're the only ones who can help me."

He frowned more deeply. "The Cullens? What do you need from those bloo – er, them?"

She met his gaze without flinching, and replied calmly, her face expressionless save for her eyes alight with a fire that captivated him as surely as her next words. "Those bloodsuckers are the only known coven to have any success in raising a half-vampire child without losing the mother. I need them to help me keep my friend and her own half-vampire child alive."

* * *

By the way, County Road 57, _The_ County Road, is totally made up. I forgot to put that in the disclaimer. I have absolutely no idea in reality if there is any kind of county road going through Forks, but I was lazy and did not want to look up a road map of Washington just to find a road that might fit the story. Also, forgive any errors. I published this part late at night, and I'm sleepy. I mean to the point where if I stop typing for a moment, I'll close my eyes just to rest them and forget to open them again, effectively falling asleep at my computer.

So what do we think? I told you we'd go Cullen-hunting, didn't I? And did I or did I not deliver on the meeting with Sam? Was anybody else smiling like an idiot when they read that or was I the only one? Give me your thoughts.

RP13


	6. Chapter 6

Well, my duckies, guess who has another update! Oh, yes, we're rolling right along.

Disclaimer: nothing here is mine. Not one single thing. Hermione and Luna belong to JKR, everybody and everything else in this chapter belongs to Ms Meyer.

Note: to suit the purposes of this story, I have decided to have Emily be Embry's imprint instead of Sam's. I can't quite bring myself to get rid of her completely, because she's so nice._  
_

* * *

**Chapter Six**

The man stared at her, gobsmacked. She stared back at him, unfazed. The pack stared at them both, patiently waiting for someone to explain what was going on. They were pretty much all in agreement that this was probably the strangest meeting between a wolf and his imprint that had ever occurred in history, _ever._ The majority of the other wolves were just as stunned as Sam at the turn of events.

First of all, Sam had imprinted. Finally. Everyone would have expected the Alpha to imprint first, especially in light of the theory that imprinting helped a wolf find a mate that would help produce stronger wolves. If the Alpha of a wolf pack was the strongest leader, and imprinting helped him find a mate to produce even stronger offspring, then logic would dictate that the Alpha would imprint first, right? Apparently not. Jared, Paul, Jake, Quil, and Embry had all imprinted before Sam.

Second of all, Sam's imprint wasn't Quileute. Hell, she wasn't even American.

Third of all, she could apparently shift into an oversized, supernaturally strong and fast wolf just like them.

And finally, not only had Sam imprinted on a not-Quileute, not-American shape-shifter, but he had imprinted on what appeared to be a witch of all things. A witch. Who knew? Out of all the weird any of them had ever seen, this had to top it all.

In fact, half of them were tempted to think they were going crazy.

_Dude, if you're crazy, then we all are, _Jacob told Jared, who had voiced the thought for the others to "hear."

_So the rest of you saw what she did, too?_ Embry asked uncertainly. _Everybody else saw her wave a stick and clothes appear out of nowhere to cover Sam's butt-naked self?_

_I wonder if she could teach me how to do that?_ Quil mused. If Leah had been human, she would have smacked him upside the head for that.

_I wonder if she can teach me to fight like that,_ Collin responded.

_Yeah, did you see her? She almost took down Sam!_ Brady exclaimed, jazzed.

Paul snorted. _Yeah, right. Sam totally had her under control._

_I don't know, Paul, she seemed pretty fierce. I think she probably hasn't been a wolf very long,_ Seth disagreed. _She's probably just not as used to the wolf's instincts as we are. Plus, she seems pretty desperate to get going. I bet sheer desperation would have made her win if she would have just trusted her instincts and let the wolf fight. Sam's wolf took over, and that's why he won. His wolf knew how to win the fight against another wolf, and hers would have known the same thing if she would have trusted it._

While the wolves were debating amongst themselves the possible other outcomes of the fight, Sam was still facing the small woman who had suddenly become his entire universe – and he still did not know her name.

He was so busy staring at her, that he almost didn't realize she was speaking.

"Are you listening?" she demanded.

"What?" he asked, snapping back to his senses.

She made a noise of impatience and frustration. "Look, I don't know who you are, or why you won't let me go, but I've about had it. I've told you already, my friend was raped by a vampire and is now pregnant with a half-vampire child and I need to find someone who has encountered a half-vampire child that was born without killing its mother. It seems there is an entire coven of such someones right here in Forks, and I am going to see them and you are not going to stop me. If you or your friends try, so help me God I will immobilize the lot of you and go find the Cullens anyway, leaving the lot of you standing here in the middle of the forest, exposed to anyone who might happen to pass by. Should I manage to conclude my business with the Cullens in a timely manner, I _might_ come back to see what's become of you, and if you're all still here, I _might_ return you to your natural forms. Yes, your natural forms. Trust me, conjuring clothes is the least of what I can do. If I have to, I can force a transformation on each and every one of you, leaving you all standing here buck naked. So what's it going to be? Will you let me go?" she demanded, her expression composed. Her stance and her eyes gave her away, however. Despite the outward calmness of her face, her stance was aggressive, and her eyes held a wildness to them, which told Sam that she was prepared to do whatever it took to accomplish her mission.

Sam had by now completely regained his wits. He shoved the imprint to the back of his mind for the time being and confronted the situation like the Alpha he was. Imprint or no, he also had to protect his pack. There was also the fact that letting her go to the Cullens by herself didn't sit well with him at all, even though he knew they were peaceful and even though he knew Jake had imprinted on one of their number, the child recently born to the newest vampire, Bella.

All the wolves and Sam saw how the woman's hand tightened almost imperceptibly on her wand. He glanced at Jake, who was for all intents and purposes either co-Alpha or Beta, depending on the situation, since he still didn't want to claim the title fully but was willing to share responsibility with Sam. Jake, who stood behind the woman, glanced down at her wand and met Sam's eyes again, inclining his head.

He started speaking, hoping to keep her focused on him as Jake began to move silently forward. "We'll let you go to them under two conditions. One, you agree that when you're done speaking with them, you'll meet back with us and explain a few things, as well as letting us explain a few things to you. Two, you let me go with you," he told her resolutely.

She frowned. "I can give you an oath that I'll come back to you, so why on earth do you need to go with me? And before you ask, when I say an oath, I mean a magically binding one that would cause me physical pain and illness to break."

"All the same, I'd rather you let me go with you. For my peace of mind if nothing else," he said.

"And if I refuse?" she challenged.

By now Jake was close enough. With a strike like lightning, he moved.

"We take your stick," Sam replied as Hermione whirled on the wolf that had snuck up on her and snatched her wand from her hand.

"Don't break it!" she shrieked, her hands flying up to her mouth in panic. She lurched wildly towards the wolf, but Sam, who had drawn closer, reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him.

"Let me go with you," he repeated calmly.

Torn, she looked from him to the russet-colored wolf who had retreated back to his place in the circle, her precious wand in his mouth, and back again. Finally, she knew she had no choice. She couldn't Apparate to the Cullens without it. She couldn't even shift without it attached to her person.

Defeated, her shoulders slumped. "Fine. But I swear, if he breaks my wand, I will bring the wrath of angels down on all your heads. I don't care if not having my wand means I can no longer take the wolf form while you lot still can, I will find a way. I can be quite vindictive if I'm pissed off."

He nodded his understanding, then turned his attention to the pack. "Jake, you and Paul come with me. The rest of you go back to the rez. Jared, you gather up the elders and let them know what happened. Leah, I need you and Embry to do the same with the imprints. Make sure they're prepared. The elders will probably call for a bonfire for tomorrow night," he instructed. When he finished, the three wolves in question yipped their agreement, and then Hermione's heart jumped as the clearing was suddenly a flurry of activity as the dozen or so wolves the size of horses took formation and thundered past her, leaving just her, the man, and two of the wolves left.

The man turned back to her. "Now. We'll get to the Cullens quicker if you ride."

"Ride?" she asked, confused.

In answer, he stepped back a few paces, and then his outline blurred and rippled before he seemed to explode into a mass of black. Then he came up beside her and lowered his chest to the ground, forelegs extended, looking almost as if he were asking her to play. "Ride you?" she asked incredulously.

He looked at her impatiently and when she didn't move, he looked back at the other two wolves. The large silver wolf moved forward, and somehow she didn't like the look in his eye. She had a feeling he was going to end up somehow tossing her up onto the black wolf's back, and would probably be rougher than necessary. Aggression showed in every movement he made.

She gasped and turned to clamber gracelessly onto the black wolf's back herself, sending the silver wolf a glare when he snorted at her. It couldn't be clearer that he was amused.

"Well?" she said. "Let's go!"

Sam rolled his eyes, but once he felt the woman grip his fur in her hands securely, he moved forward. Not wanting her to lose her balance, he started at a walk before gradually moving into a trot, then a lope, and then a full-out run, Jake and Paul patiently matching his pace.

As they got closer to the treaty line, he reached his thoughts out to Edward Cullen, hoping the mind-reading vampire was home so he could hear him. _Hey, Cullen, we found this lady in the woods who claimed to be looking for your family. It's a long story but I think you need to talk to her. She's pretty insistent. We're bringing her in and we'll be there in a couple of minutes. Jake and Paul are with me._

About three minutes later the house was in view, with the Doctor and Edward waiting on the front porch, along with the little girl, Jake's imprint. It was clear she was waiting for him.

"Jake!" she cried happily. She flew off the porch and reached Jake just as he finished slowing to a stop. She tackled him and he obligingly rolled to the ground and let her rough him up a little before he gently dislodged her; when she was on her feet on solid ground, he stood and vanished into some bushes nearby where he kept a stash of clothes for when he came to visit in wolf form.

Hermione watched all this from the black wolf's back, and blinked in mild surprise when another copper-skinned man emerged from the bushes, this one a little younger-looking than her copper-skinned man – and where had that thought come from? _Her_ copper-skinned man? Merlin, she was losing her mind.

Her attention was diverted when a voice sounded from the direction of the house. "Sam, Jake, Paul, good to see you again. And I assume this is the lady you mentioned?"

She turned her attention to the house and her eyes found two men on the front porch. One look at their golden eyes told her she'd found what she'd been looking for. Without further ado, she slid hastily from the black wolf's back and rushed up to the porch.

"Welcome, Miss…?" the blonde man said, his voice trailing off as he realized her hurry.

"You are the Cullens?" she asked in a rush.

"Yes," the blonde said carefully. "My name is Carlisle, and this is Edward." He indicated his bronze-haired companion, who still hadn't spoken. He was looking at Hermione with a frown of consternation.

"Edward Cullen, oh, thank God!" she exclaimed. "Look, I need your help. My friend was raped by a vampire about three weeks ago, and now she's pregnant, and she doesn't want to abort it but I'm afraid it's going to kill her, and even if it doesn't I don't know if it will be a threat to society and another vampire told me he knew of somebody who knew of a half-vampire child who was born without killing its mother and I found that vampire and he told me where to find you so I brought Luna to Port Angeles but I don't know how much time she has for us to do something! Please, you've got to help me!" She said all this very fast, seemingly all in one breath. When they didn't respond except to stare at her, mouths agape, she groaned in frustration.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" she cried, nearing hysterics.

Before either of them could respond, she felt another presence appear.

She looked to see the little girl from earlier at her side. Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at the girl and read the faint signs that revealed her to be more than human. The child was absolutely beautiful, with a face that looked almost too perfect to be real and skin that possessed an almost unearthly luminosity to it. Hermione's enhanced sense of hearing, an apparently permanent effect of the transformation into wolf form, picked up a tiny, rapid flutter that she soon realized was the girl's heartbeat, much faster than a human's. And she could feel the heat radiating from the little girl's skin, heat that matched that of the copper-skinned man, whose skin was unnaturally hot.

"What's wrong?" The little girl's melodious voice reached her ears in question.

Hermione smiled brilliantly in relief. "Nothing at all," she sighed. She turned her full attention to the miracle at her side. "Tell me, sweetheart. Is your mother here? I would very much like to meet her."

Before the little girl could answer, however, a pair of hands gently pulled her away from Hermione as she was shielded by someone's body.

"Not until you explain yourself," the hard voice of the bronze-haired vampire told her.

"I told you," she replied, struggling to keep her voice even but not succeeding very well. The note of desperation was starting to creep back in. "My friend was raped by a vampire and is pregnant with his child. I need to find help for her and another vampire called Alistair told me where to find you. Please, please let me come in so I can tell you, all of you, the whole story. I promise I would never harm anyone, least of all your wife and daughter. I couldn't even if I wanted to. _He _stole my wand, so I'm fairly certain I am, in fact, the most defenseless person here," she finished, pointing at the copper-skinned man who'd replaced the russet wolf. He still held her wand in his hand.

Neither of the vampires responded for a moment. They exchanged looks with each other first, and then the bronze-haired one, Edward, looked back at her with a look of intense concentration.

"What?" she asked uncertainly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Instead of answering her, he turned his attention back to the blonde. "I can't hear anything from her. Only instead of silence like with Bella, I'm getting static."

Hermione gaped at them. "What are you talking about? I'm right here! Don't tell me there's such a thing as a deaf vampire!" She heard the surprised burst of laughter coming from behind her, and glanced back to see that all three of the wolves had shifted back to their human forms and were all fully dressed. She forced herself to turn back to the two vampires instead of getting distracted.

The one called Carlisle chuckled. "No, that's not what Edward means. Edward has a particular gift that allows him to read most people's minds. His wife Bella was, until now, the only exception."

"Oh," she replied. "Well, I don't think he'll be able to read my mind unless I let him. I learned a branch of magic that allows me to block my thoughts from anyone who might try to read them, and now it takes conscious effort for me to let someone in."

"I see," Carlisle replied. "In that case, I suppose we had better let you in so you can explain." He looked beyond her. "Sam, Jake, Paul, you are more than welcome to come in as well."

Hermione looked behind her at the three large young men. The youngest of the three, the one who still held her wand in his hand, grinned and agreed, which made the little girl smile brilliantly in return. The oldest, her black wolf, nodded his agreement as well, though his face remained somber. The third, however, shook his head. "I'm gonna patrol. One of us should stay wolfed out."

The two vampires nodded and turned to lead the way into the house.

Before she followed them, however, she turned back to the two copper-skinned young men. "My wand, please," she requested, her voice polite but possessing an underlying tone of steel.

Jake raised an eyebrow at her, and she said, "Look at it this way: would you want to go in there if you didn't have your ability to shape-shift?"

He had to concede the point, and held her wand out to her. She accepted it with a nod of thanks and turned to follow the two vampires.

She was followed closely by the Man Who Was The Black Wolf, and he was followed in turn by Jake and the little girl, whose tiny hand was tucked into the giant one of her companion.

Hermione was a bit disconcerted to realize how closely the Man Who Was The Black Wolf stayed to her, and even more so to realize how it seemed like every movement she made he followed, either by his own movements or by his eyes. She was also disconcerted to see, upon following Carlisle and Edward into the living room, that it appeared the rest of the coven was waiting for them.

A woman with soft waves of shoulder-length hair that reminded Hermione of Muggle black-and-white silent films stood at the entryway between the foyer where they had just come into the house and the living room. A blonde woman stood beside the fireplace on the far side of the room while a blonde male stood looking out the window near the fireplace. A very large – though not as large as the copper-skinned men behind her – dark-haired male lounged on the sofa facing an enormous flat-screen television. A third female, also with dark hair, though hers was quite a bit longer, and what Hermione realized with some trepidation was a pair of crimson eyes stood unobtrusively in a corner of the room, watching everything warily. And a fourth, smaller dark-haired female, this one with much shorter hair, pranced in from another room off the living room, caring a vase of flowers which she placed on the coffee table before going to stand beside the blonde male by the window.

At the entry of the newcomers, all the vampires in the living room looked up, and as their eyes found the face of the only person that was yet a stranger to them, Hermione fought back a flinch at finding herself suddenly the center of attention. She tightened her grip on her wand.

"Please, let's all sit," Carlisle entreated. Only about half the people in the room did so. Hermione hesitated, but finally decided to be gracious and accept the hospitality that was on offer. She sat in a single armchair, after a glance at her copper-skinned man that she did not realize was a silent entreaty for him to stay close. He came up and stood beside her armchair.

She felt herself calm at his presence and tried not to ponder too much the implications of that. She missed the look of interest on the faces of the blonde male by the window, who'd remained standing, and Edward, who had elected to sit down with the woman with long dark hair and red eyes. She sat carefully, neither rigid nor relaxed, her position perfectly composed but for the still-tight grip she had on her wand which was the only giveaway to her tension.

"Tell us, my dear," Carlisle requested. "What brings you all the way here to us? I can tell from your accent alone that you are not from here."

She shook her head. "No. I'm from Britain. My name is Hermione," she told them. She glanced at the wolf-men again, this time apologetically. "I'm sorry I never introduced myself before. I'm afraid I've botched things up a bit." She took a deep breath, knowing that what she was about to say would be difficult for them to believe. "My name is Hermione, and I am a witch."

* * *

I decided to leave it there because it is now 4 am where I am right now and I really should have been in bed ages ago. But I was also having issues with a download of this photo-editing software that I purchased, and like a stupid person I decided to hack through the problem on my own, before bed, instead of waiting to get professional help the next morning. But I still solved the problem, so take that, technology!

Anyway, so, do we like? Now we've met everybody. Well, aside from the fact that she still doesn't know her wolf-man's name aside from the fact that it's either Sam or Paul. And the fact that she hasn't learned all the vampires' names, either. Okay, so we've sort of met everybody. Leave me alone, I'm tired and in no condition to be arguing semantics. Let me know what you think.

RP13


	7. Chapter 7

Yeah, I'm on a roll with this story. Not sure when that heavy brick we call writer's block will come flying out of nowhere and crack me upside the head, but it'll probably happen at some point. Probably at a point where I have two great scenes written out and can't figure out how to connect them. But hey, I'm still crankin' stuff out, so I'm gonna milk it for all I can while I can.

Disclaimer: nothing here is mine, all the characters belong to their respective creators, yadda, yadda, yadda.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

"My name is Hermione, and I am a witch," she said, ignoring their stares. She knew they all desperately wanted to speak, but something on her face must have convinced them all to stay quiet and allow her to continue.

Before she could continue, however, a voice piped up from the doorway leading further into the house. "You're a witch? Can you show me some magic?"

Hermione looked to find the little girl from earlier standing in the doorway with her large copper shadow behind her. She glanced at the vampires in the room around her and knew she would have to be careful about what magic she cast.

She thought for a while, and then decided on a much more benign variation of the spell she'd sent at Ron in her sixth year when she'd been so angry at him for paying attention to Lavendar Brown. Instead of casting "_avis oppugno_" which would produce birds that, if left to their own devices, would batter a target to death, she cast a completely harmless and utterly delightful "_avium cantu._"

She was rewarded by the little girl clapping her hands and exclaiming with delight as two or three dozen brilliantly colored birds materialized, lit on whatever perch they could find, and began a chorus of singing. And when one particularly lovely little redbird landed on the little girl's shoulder and seemed to sing its song just for her, Hermione knew she'd won the little girl's allegiance.

After a few moments, the birds ended their song and disappeared out the window, leaving behind a single red feather in the little girl's hand as a parting gift. Then the girl, her eyes shining, came over to Hermione. She ignored the protests of her parents, her attention solely on the magical woman who had just produced all the bright, singing birds.

"What's your name?" the girl asked. Hermione was a little surprised at the maturity in the little girl's voice, despite the innocence of the question.

"My name is Hermione. What's yours, sweetheart?" she replied softly.

"My name is Renesmee. Can I touch your face? I want to show you something," the little girl answered.

"Yes, you may."

Renesmee reached a hand to Hermione's cheek and cupped it with her warm palm. Instantly Hermione gasped but made no move to pull away. The vampires, Sam, and Jake all watched as her eyes took on a faraway cast as she watched whatever Renesmee was showing her.

Hermione was stunned. She knew that there were some vampires that had particular supernatural – well, more supernatural than vampires were already – gifts, and she'd already been made aware that Edward, at least, was one of them. But she never would have imagined that a child produced by a gifted vampire with a human woman might also have such a marvelous gift. And there was no other word for it, Renesmee's gift was simply marvelous.

Dozens of images floated through Hermione's mind, images focused on the little girl as she grew, images from her point of view, and most especially, images that she'd created listening to her family members tell her the stories of how she came to be. She saw two people that she recognized as the girl's parents, though her mother was human at the time, and saw how they met and fell in love, how they married, a clearly censored version of their honeymoon on a magnificent tropical island, how they discovered she was pregnant, and how the pregnancy progressed. Hermione's eyes welled with tears as she realized how mature this little girl was that she felt guilty for all the pain she'd caused her mother as a result of her strength while still in the womb.

She also saw censored images of the gruesome labor and birth, and the only images she saw that weren't censored were Renesmee's first memories, memories of coming into the world and seeing her mother for the first time, and for the last time as a human, bleeding and fading away. She saw how Edward must have turned Renesmee's mother, though those images were hazier, because the baby had not been present for the start of the turning and had only been told by her parents how it had gone.

She saw images of Renesmee's mother lying still as death, but clean, as the color slowly came back to some degree into her body, as her skin smoothed and bruises and dark circles under her eyes faded, as her flesh seemed to fill back out more evenly. She saw how Renesmee and her mother had first met after her mother's changing was complete, when she and Edward had returned from her first hunting trip as a new vampire, and Hermione was impressed by the newest vampire's iron control, obviously unheard-of in a newborn.

She also saw images of a great russet wolf, always closely connected to images of the copper-skinned young man that had taken Hermione's wand, and always accompanied by the name Jake, so lovingly and adoringly thought in the little girl's mind. She worshipped Jake, who seemed to return the sentiment. Hermione was a bit bothered by that, and filed it away to ask the girl's parents about later if she got the chance. The last images were only a few, simply to illustrate the fact that Renesmee grew so much more quickly than a human child.

Then, when Renesmee finished showing her the images, Hermione returned to the present, and met the girl's eyes again. She could not decide whether she wanted to sigh with relief or to laugh with delight or to weep for the pain Luna would soon be going through.

Renesmee could see the awe in the magic-woman's eyes, as well as both relief and worry and pain. Puzzled by the myriad of emotions, she silently asked the magic-woman what was wrong. _Why do you still seem so confused? Was there anything I showed you that you didn't understand?_

"No, sweetheart, you explained everything perfectly."

_Then why do you still seem afraid and worried? My momma is fine now. I can't hurt her on accident anymore. No one can. We're all happy now._

It was that simple, innocent statement that caused Hermione's tears to finally spill over, though she made no move to stop them. "I was worried because of my friend Luna. A bad vampire who didn't care about hurting people hurt her on purpose, and now she's going to have a baby too, but she doesn't have a husband to take care of her like your mother had your father. Except for me, she is alone. But now, because of everything you've shown me, I know how to help her. So thank you very much, from the bottom of my heart."

Renesmee smiled brilliantly, and, on an impulse that all little girls feel every now and then, even ones as grown-up as her, she threw her arms around the magic-woman's shoulders and hugged her tight before pressing a sweet kiss to her cheek. Then she pulled back.

"Can you show me some more magic?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

Hermione pulled herself together, forcing herself to banish her concern for Luna to the back of her mind, and thought for a moment, before deciding on her Patronus. She closed her eyes and cast the spell, pouring her concentration into the memory of embracing Harry when they realized they'd defeated Voldemort. The insides of her eyelids lit up and she opened her eyes just in time to see, to her astonishment, a great silver wolf gamboling about the room. She was nearly as stunned as the vampires looked, and the bulky dark-haired male pointed it out.

"It's always an otter," she explained nervously. "The form is always specific to the person who casts it – Harry's is a stag because his father's was a stag and his mother's was a doe, Ron's is a terrier, his sister's is a horse, Luna's is a hare, and mine is always an otter. The only time it ever changes is when there's a life-changing event that occurs in a witch or wizard's life. If my Patronus were to have changed at any point I'd think it would have been when we defeated Voldemort. I don't understand why it would have changed now, and why it would be a wolf instead of anything else."

Sam, still standing beside her armchair, found himself looking down at her at this. He wondered if perhaps it had something to do with the imprint. Most of the other imprints were not as affected by the imprinting as the wolves were other than feeling that they had what they most needed, even if they didn't realize it, but Jacob had actually revealed the case to be different with Renesmee. It seemed she felt nearly as powerful an attachment to him as he did to her, and it seemed that it was a product of not only being half-vampire, but also of having been born to parents who both turned out to be gifted and of being gifted herself. Perhaps the magic that Hermione controlled was a kind of magic that ran in her blood, same as the magic that ran through the wolves' veins, and perhaps her magic recognized the magic of the wolves and the imprinting.

"But how is it you are even able to do this?" Esme asked in wonder. "Witches? Wands, magic? And what is a Patronus? Who is Voldemort?"

Hermione sighed and started at the beginning. "No one really knows how witches and wizards evolved. Perhaps they evolved as a means of protecting other people against magical creatures that had evolved earlier, ones that would harm people. Perhaps something was simply triggered in them, a gene activated by some external factor that no one can figure out. But witches and wizards have existed for centuries if not millennia. And just like with people who can trace their families back to great kings and noble families, like the Tudors or the Bourbons or the Medicis or the Borgias, so can many Wizarding families trace their ancestry to great witches and wizards such as Merlin, Morgan le Fey, Circe, and others. And just as there were those less than a century ago who took pride in having blonde hair and blue eyes and fair skin and felt that people who were of a different ethnicity or religion were inferior and tried to wipe them out, so did some Wizarding families start to feel that those of us who were born to non-magical parents were inferior and needed to be culled in order to keep magic among those with pure blood. And several decades ago a young man became known to the Wizarding World who upheld those values with a greater obsession than had ever been seen before. His name was Tom Riddle, but he would come to call himself Lord Voldemort." And so she told them briefly the tale of her world, and most especially, the story of the Two Wizarding Wars, before turning to her own story.

"Seven years ago I received a letter and a visitor, a tall old lady in a pointed hat and a long cloak, who told me I was a witch and that if I wanted and my parents agreed, I could go to school to learn magic. I did, and on the train there I met two boys named Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. Harry Potter was famous, the most famous boy in our world, because when he was just a year old, he defeated one of the most evil wizards history has ever known." And so she gave them a brief history of her years at Hogwarts as one of Harry Potter's two best friends and as a key player in the Second Wizarding War. She also explained Luna's rape at the Final Battle, Voldemort's defeat, and their discovery two weeks later that Luna was pregnant. And here, she shifted the topic off her, since she could tell by looking at some of them that they were still caught up in processing everything she had just told them.

"And so finally, I remembered that one of my professors was friends with a vampire, and so I asked him to contact him, and Sanguini told me where and how to find Alistair, who told me where to find you." She paused for a moment, before adding, "He also told me that you were allied with a group of shape-shifting youth that turn into giant wolves. I can only assume he meant you." She nodded to Sam with a glance over to Jake, still in the doorway. "Though he failed to mention just how many of you there were. Nearly gave me a heart attack when I came upon the lot of you in the woods. You're quite good at sneaking up on people, you know, even when they're also a wolf with a wolf's sense of hearing and smell."

Sam shrugged. "You were distracted. It wasn't until Brady, one of the newer wolves, stepped on a twig that you finally noticed us," he told her.

She nodded pensively. Then she looked up at him again, a curious look in her eyes. "You know, after all that, and all this," she said, sweeping a hand out to indicate the entire room full of vampires, "I still don't know your name. In fact, I don't know very many of your names at all, and you all know mine."

"Well, then, we'll just have to fix that, won't we?" said the small, pixie-like female vampire brightly. "And then we can tell you our story, since you've told us yours."

Hermione nodded, and then looked once more at the quiet man by her side. She couldn't seem to help it; as hard as she worked to the contrary, she just couldn't stop her eyes from coming back to him. The vampires all noticed, as did Jake, and they all knew what it meant. They were all surprised by the implication, however, given that she wasn't at all Quileute, or even from the same continent.

Sam gave her a small half-smile. "Sam Uley, at your service, ma'am."

She blushed and smiled back at him, but said nothing. "I'm Jake Black," added the copper-skinned young man still in the doorway. "For all intents and purposes, Sam's the Alpha of our pack and I'm the Beta, though mostly we just split the responsibilities."

Sam spoke again. "The Alpha position is actually Jake's by birth, since one of his ancestors was Alpha of the last pack, but I was first to phase. I've offered him the Alpha position, but…" he trailed off.

"But I don't really want it," Jake supplied.

Hermione turned to them with interest, forgetting the vampires for a moment. "That's odd," she said. "In wild wolf packs, the alpha doesn't inherit the position; instead, the alpha is the smartest, strongest, and most dominant member of the pack, whether it's male or female. I suppose the inheritance of the Alpha position in your pack comes from the human tendency of passing titles down the family line." She fell silent for a moment, thinking, before looking back up at the vampires present in the room. "Sorry, I got sidetracked," she said with a smile. "Where were we?"

"Introductions," supplied the bulky, dark-haired male with a grin. "Emmett."

The blonde female by his side sniffed disdainfully instead of answering, and Hermione raised an eyebrow. "That's Rosalie," the dark-haired female standing beside Carlisle supplied, looking reproachfully at the blonde before turning back to Hermione with a warm smile. "And my name is Esme. Carlisle is my husband."

"Pleasure to meet you," Hermione said, unable to help responding to the warmth of this eldest female vampire.

"I'm Alice," chirped the pixie-like vampire across the room. "And this is my husband, Jasper," she added, patting the arm of the blonde male with her. He had turned around at the entrance of Carlisle, Edward, Hermione, Renesmee, and the two wolf-men.

Hermione noticed that he was watching her with a perplexed expression on his face, and she wondered why. Before she could turn her attention to anyone else, he spoke.

"You seem confused," he said, his deep voice melodic with its faint hint of the Southern drawl that Hermione had heard in Muggle movies about the American Civil War.

She blinked, wondering how he could possibly know what she was feeling. But she answered smoothly. "Actually, I was wondering why you were looking at me as if _you_ were confused."

He blinked in surprise, but then, to _her_ surprise, he chuckled. "Well, now, don't take this the wrong way, but I was a little confused about your smell. You don't smell the same as most humans. You almost smell like Sam and Jake, who, to us, smell like wet dogs, but your scent is far more pleasant, and at the same time you also smell like flowers."

Hermione stared at him. "So, you're saying I smell like a dog that's had a bath?"

That surprised a full belly-laugh out of Sam and Jake. There was a smattering of chuckles around the room, and she thought wryly to herself, _Well, at least they think I'm funny. And apparently I don't smell like food._

"Jasper was, until recently, one of the newest members of our family. He had a different upbringing, where self-control was…less important," Carlisle explained diplomatically.

Hermione darted a glance back at the other blonde male, who gave her a light smile. "I'll tell you about it sometime, if you like, though it's not really a pleasant story."

She nodded. "That's all right. As you know, a lot of my own story isn't particularly pleasant, either. I'm sure I can handle it." He nodded.

The last person to introduce herself was the dark-haired female with the crimson eyes. This was the person Hermione was most anxious to meet. The human girl who had fallen in love with and married a vampire before bearing him a child that had nearly killed her, and had survived it all.

"I'm Bella," she said quietly, her voice musical.

* * *

I have absolutely no idea where the inspiration for the interaction between Hermione and Renesmee came about. All I know is that I wanted them to interact, with Hermione explaining to Renesmee in some way why she was there. After all, to Hermione, Renesmee is living proof of the fact that it _will_ be possible for Luna to survive.

So, read and respond, _por favor._

__RP13


	8. Chapter 8

So. This chapter will be largely from Sam's point of view, as it turns out. I didn't plan it that way, but that's just sort of how it happened. I decided I liked the spot where I ended it - a nice little mini-cliffhanger, as it were - so more will come at a later date. Hope you like.

Disclaimer: Hm. How many ways do you think there are to say that none of this is mine? I've tried to come up with an original disclaimer for every chapter of every story. Ooh, I know. reyeM einehpetS ro gnilwoR .K.J ot sgnoleb enO retpahC ni eripmav eht fo noitpecxe eht htiw yrots siht ni enoyreve dna gnihtyrevE. If you couldn't read that, just think: Mirror of Erised. And if that still isn't enough of a clue, let me know._  
_

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

"I'm Bella," said the young, dark-haired woman with her dark crimson eyes. Meeting those crimson eyes for too long made Hermione edgy, but she struggled to tamp down those thoughts.

"Hello, Bella. I, as you know by now, am Hermione. I'm so glad to meet you at last. I can't even begin to express how relieved I am to have found you, all of you. You don't know how I searched and searched for something, anything, that would help Luna, and now I have the answers before me." Her voice broke here and she took a couple of deep breaths, pulling herself together.

Sam was both impressed and yet immensely bothered by how quickly she got herself back under control. He was impressed that she managed it in the first place under the circumstances – he'd be flipping out in her place – but he was bothered by the fact that her fear and pain and worry were still there, beneath the surface of her calm. She seemed like a person who hadn't allowed themselves to give in to their emotions for far too long, and he knew firsthand how detrimental it could be to continue to keep so much emotion bottled up.

She continued more evenly. "I haven't slept well in many months. At first it was because we were on the run, trying to hide from Voldemort's regime and find the Horcruxes at the same time. Then, after the war was won, it was nightmares. We have potions to help induce dreamless sleep, but I've discovered that I happen to be allergic to the one ingredient that is common to every single variant of the potion that's yet been invented. And then when we discovered Luna's pregnancy and realized how much more quickly it was advancing than a human pregnancy, my worry for her kept me up. I had no idea how much time she had, how long it would be before things turned dangerous, and so I stayed up late each night, researching, and even after I did go to bed, the nightmares would wake me back up and so I'd keep researching to get my mind off the nightmares. I think tonight, now that I've finally found the solution, will be the first decent sleep I've had in nearly a year."

Before anyone could say anything in response, including a horrified Sam and Jake, a sudden ear-piercing noise split the air, causing Hermione to start violently. So quickly even the vampires were surprised, she was on her feet, her wand raised as her eyes darted back and forth around the room, searching for the source of the noise. It wasn't until she heard Bella's voice say, "Hello?" that she realized the noise was the ringing of a cell phone.

Feeling extremely foolish, she put her wand away once more and lowered herself to sit down again. "Er, sorry about that," she said meekly to the vampires, all of whom were staring at her. "I'm a bit jumpy these days."

Jake privately thought that was an understatement – he'd never seen _anyone_ so jumpy, not even his pack-mates when they'd phased for the first time – but he said nothing. He'd prefer not to risk Sam getting irritated with him for insulting his imprint.

"That's perfectly understandable," Carlisle told her. Then he added, "Would you care to bring your friend here? I can examine her wherever it is you are staying in Port Angeles, but it will be easiest to monitor and care for her here."

She nodded. She glanced up at the wall and her eyes found the clock, and she said, "Actually, yes. I hadn't realized I was here so long, and even though I left Luna a note telling her where I'd be, I hate leaving her for so long. I'd best get back to her now. I'll bring her back with me in a bit as soon as I've had a chance to explain everything to her. Don't be alarmed if we appear out of thin air in your front yard."

Carlisle nodded his assent. Her eyes swept the room once more and softened. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for listening to me, for not trying to attack me, for agreeing to help me. I'll be back soon."

When Sam made a move as if to follow her, she turned to him. "Stay with Jacob and…Paul, was it? I'll be back soon. As quickly as you can run, I can still make it to Port Angeles, explain everything to Luna, and come back with her before you could make it from here to there. And I promise we'll have a chance to talk today."

He stood there indecisively for a moment. "Trust me," she said. "I know that's asking a lot given the fact that we don't know each other, but you've got to trust me. You've seen me produce a flock of birds out of thin air, what makes you think I can't make it to Port Angeles and back in less than twenty minutes?"

Though his logical mind was whispering a constant stream of warnings, the wolf within his head was anxious, both trusting in her to keep her promise and worried by the idea of being away from her for any length of time. But what else could he do? She'd already demonstrated that unless her wand were taken away, she would do what she pleased, with or without his consent, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. The thought terrified him, and he knew with a certainty he'd never felt before that he _needed_ to have this talk with her, to make her understand that despite the fact that she could clearly look after herself, he still felt compelled to protect her and could not do so if she were constantly leaving him behind.

He nodded his agreement, and barely suppressed the urge to beg her to hurry back to him. If there were any way to make him look desperate, that would be it. "See you in a little while," he said instead.

He was rewarded with a quick but genuine smile as she turned on the spot and vanished with a pop.

He was tempted to start counting the minutes, so in order to curb that tendency, he decided he'd go out and run the perimeter of the Cullens' territory, perhaps join Paul and see if he'd seen anything. He let Jake know, who nodded, relieved that he wasn't being asked to join and was free to spend time with Nessie.

He also told Carlisle, who nodded as well before he and Edward went upstairs to set up a room to examine Hermione's friend.

Sam stepped outside and disappeared into the same bunch of bushes Jake had used earlier. He stripped off his clothes and phased, and when the transformation was complete he took a moment to stretch his large canine body before starting off toward the perimeter of the territory at a lope.

As luck would have it, Paul happened to be approaching from the east at the same moment, so Sam waited to speed up until Paul had caught up with him, and then black and silver ran together.

_Leaving your imprint behind already?_ Paul asked, a faint snide note in his voice. Sam tried not to let his irritation take over, reminding himself that Paul had the same snarky attitude regarding all outsiders in general.

Instead of rising to the bait, Sam answered evenly. Or rather, he answered as evenly as he could in the face of his anxiety over his imprint leaving _him_ behind, for however short a time. _Nah, she's gone to pick up her friend. Doc's gonna examine her so they can figure out how to help her. They'll be here soon._

Paul had no answer. So instead he asked, _So, what'd I miss?_

_Well, you missed her announcement that she is in fact a witch. Apparently there's this whole secret world of witches and wizards that have existed for probably as long as ordinary people, and they have governments and neighborhoods and schools and hospitals and everything. They even have class systems like ordinary people do, too, and wars over different beliefs. Apparently there was this one tyrant who started making a name for himself while he was at school some fifty-odd years ago who had issues with people who don't have magic and the witches and wizards born to such parents. He gathered up a bunch of followers and they tried to create a society where witches and wizards like her would have very few rights, and where people without any magic would have no rights at all. Kind of like Hitler and the Holocaust, I guess. And there was this prophecy…_ He explained everything Hermione had told him, Jake, and the vampires to the best of his ability, knowing that he was probably getting some of the details mixed up. _She'll probably end up explaining everything all over again when it's time for her to meet the pack and the elders and the rest of the tribe officially._

When Paul expressed doubts – _You realize how insane all this sounds, right?_ – Sam also explained what had happened with Nessie and the birds, as well as the silvery wolf she'd produced. When Paul heard about how sometimes the form of the silvery thing changed and how hers had apparently changed from an otter to a wolf, Sam could almost hear his eyebrows come up in surprise.

_Well, I guess that means she feels the imprint, too. Or at least, her magic feels it._

Sam agreed. They ran in silence for another few moments, and soon they were in view of the house again. Sam slowed down, heading toward the bushes to phase back, and was about to tell Paul to go ahead and head back to La Push and the rest of the pack when a crack echoed through the forest. It sounded similar to the noise Hermione had made when she'd vanished in the middle of the living room. The two wolves drew to a halt, listening. It sounded as if the noise had come from the end of the driveway near the road. He and Paul melted back into the trees, making sure they were out of sight of the driveway.

_Cullen? _Sam called mentally.

"We heard it," came the mind reader's voice in a murmur. "It's not Hermione, she and her friend just got back."

_Well, don't say anything to her. I'm going to go check it out. I'll stay phased, though. Can you pick up anything?_ As he spoke to Edward, he moved silently through the trees, parallel to the driveway and heading towards the road-end of it.

"No," Edward murmured back, only just loud enough for Sam to hear. "Static, just like Hermione."

_Fuck. No telling if they're friendly, then. How about your sister? She see anybody coming?_

"No, she didn't. Hermione caught her by surprise, too, when she first appeared. We thought it was because of your presence, but it seems it might be the magic that's clouding her sight."

_Double fuck,_ Paul swore.

Then Sam heard a voice that made him panic. "What's going on?" Hermione asked. "Who are you talking to, Edward?"

"Nothing," Edward lied smoothly. "Just Sam letting us know that he and Paul are going to run the perimeter another time or two, just to be safe."

"Nice try, Edward. I can tell when I'm being lied to, even by a vampire like yourself. I've spent far too long fighting for my life to trust what I hear. Now if someone doesn't tell me what's going on, I'm coming outside to find out for myself," she announced, her voice steely.

Now _that_ made him panic. _Tell her she can protect Luna better if she stays there, whatever you want, Cullen, but I don't want her coming out here! We don't know who this is!_ He began to move more quickly, still silent, but needing to get to the end of the driveway before her.

He heard Edward take his suggestion, and tried not to let his fear overcome him when she replied, "Nonsense! I'll not have a Death Eater anywhere near Luna or your daughter. You can tell Sam to go fuck himself, I'm not going to wait here like a sitting duck for death to find me! I did enough of that this year and I'm done!"

With that there was a soft pop from inside the house. Sam didn't wait for anything else. He peeled out of there, knowing he wouldn't beat her to the driveway but it was better than sitting here and letting her face an unknown danger by herself. He might at least get there at the same time.

He had just come into view of the end of the driveway and the black-robed figure of a man with dark hair and a deathly determined expression on his face when there was another pop and a flash of red light aimed right for the black-clad figure.

Sam allowed himself to hope for a fraction of a second that she'd managed to catch the man by surprise, but that hope was dashed when the man raised his wand and slashed it down and to one side, causing the red light to veer off to the side and strike Sam across the shoulder. He felt a burning sensation like fire and the pain of it made him howl in rage as he leapt at the wizard.

The man was a blur of black as his wand flashed. Sam's legs suddenly stopped working and he tumbled nose over tail, losing his control over the wolf form even as the man's wand twirled again and Hermione's image shuddered into view, her wand torn from her grasp as she was hauled gracelessly into the air by the ankle, fighting ferociously to get free.

"Now is that any way to greet your old Professor, Miss Granger?" a familiar deep voice drawled silkily.

Hermione instantly stopped thrashing about in mid-air, going limp with surprise as she was still suspended upside down. "Severus?" she asked, incredulously.

"Indeed." He waved his wand again, and she was gently turned right side up and lowered to her feet. He held her wand out to her, and she took it, but instead of putting it away, she pointed it at him.

"What was the first thing you said to me when I found you alive in the Shrieking Shack?" she demanded, eyes narrowed. Sam rather thought that was an odd question to ask, though given what she'd revealed about the results of the Final Battle, he assumed she was trying to ensure that this man was in fact a friend.

He smirked. _"Miss Granger, kindly cease your inane prattle. My head is pounding with the force of a jackhammer,"_ he quoted.

She lowered her wand and stepped up to him, throwing her arms around his middle. "Good to see you, Severus." Then she stepped back, opening her mouth to berate him for having traveled so far when he was still supposed to be limiting his activity. But her attention was diverted by Sam, who was sitting up with a groan, clutching his head.

"Sam!" she exclaimed. She forgot all about berating Severus and instead rushed to kneel beside Sam.

She put one hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she leaned over a bit, trying to peer into his face. "Are you all right? That was quite a tumble you took there. What on Earth made you jump at him like that?" she asked him.

"You were in trouble," he muttered. After a moment, he added, "And he hit me in the shoulder with something that felt like fire. It pissed me off and I lost control of my anger."

She shook her head in disbelief even as she checked him over for injuries. "We'll have to give you and the rest of the pack…and the vampires, too, most likely…a crash course in some of the less pleasant things witches and wizards can do with a wand. You can't go jumping blindly at just anyone wielding a wand who makes you mad. You're lucky Severus only hit you with an _Impedimenta_ to stop you in your tracks," she told him as she framed his head in both hands and moved it forward and back and from one side to the other so she could make sure he had no head damage. "He could have been a real Death Eater, who might have hit you with an _Avada Kedavra_ to stop you permanently or with a _Crucio_ to drop you like a rock and make you feel as if you were burning alive from the inside." She thought for a moment, and added pensively, "Although, you were also hit with a rather strong Stunner and instead of getting, well, stunned, you just got rather angry. It would seem you're rather more resilient when it comes to being affected by magic in your wolf form." She waved her wand once more, and for the second time that day, clothing appeared on his form. This time he wore a dark red tee-shirt and a pair of jeans that fit well.

Before Sam could say anything in response – indeed, before he could do more than realize how nice it was for his imprint to be coddling him – a snide voice spoke up. "And exactly who is this…pup?"

The wolf in him recognized the tone, and didn't like it one bit. His head snapped up and he gave a soft growl at the dark man, who regarded him stoically, unimpressed.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the man. "Severus, this is Sam. He is one of the members of the Quileute tribe from La Push."

"Ah yes," came the man's drawl as he folded his arms across his chest. "Yes, the pack of shape-shifters."

"Yes, he's their Alpha. Their leader," she explained. And then she raised an eyebrow at the man and said archly, "And I think your sneering and scowling and sarcasm are rather lost on him. He deals with quite a few angsty teenage boys and young men on a daily basis, so I don't think your efforts to intimidate him are going to work." As if to prove her point, he climbed to his feet, unfolding his six-foot-six body and offering her a hand to help her up in turn. He realized with a tiny sense of self-satisfaction as he stood behind Hermione that he had a good three inches and probably a hundred pounds on the other man.

She turned to him and said, "Sam, this is Severus Snape. He was the Potions Professor at Hogwarts." She left it at that, but Sam understood. During her explanation of the war, she had also explained the people who'd had the most vital roles on either side of the war, including the dark man before them now whose true loyalty had been a mystery up until after they'd thought him to be already killed. Sam also understood that the man was intensely private and would prefer his role in the war not be brought up.

The two men sized each other each up, not bothering to be particularly discreet, and Hermione noticed. She huffed. "When the two of you are finished with your male posturing, you can find me in the house. I'm going to find Luna so I can actually have a chance to introduce her properly to the people who will be helping her." With that, she flounced away.

The two men watched her go. Severus was the first to turn his attention back to the matter at hand and was irritated to note the raptness with which the…boy?...watched Hermione, as if he couldn't move his eyes from her form even if he wanted to.

"Eyes over here, boy," he snapped.

Sam looked away from the hypnotizing sway of his imprint's hips with extreme reluctance. He fought back the urge to demand what the other man wanted, or to continue watching his imprint just to piss the other man off, or do any number of deliberately rude things. For one thing, Hermione appeared to view this man as some sort of mentor. Or at the very least, she highly respected and liked him. For another, he knew that if this was a man who not only had taught his imprint magic but had also kept the majority of adult witches and wizards guessing at his loyalties for twenty years, then it would be foolish in the extreme to antagonize him, especially given that he could actually force Sam back out of his wolf form, which otherwise made him more resilient.

"Just what are your intentions regarding Miss Granger?" the wizard asked, folding his arms and cocking a forbidding eyebrow. Sam was reminded rather oddly of Chief Swan, Billy Black's friend and father of the newest vampire Bella Cullen, nee Swan. The Forks Chief of Police had the same don't-fuck-with-me-or-I-will-fuck-you-up demeanor when he was dealing with criminals and hooligans.

Sam debated what to tell this man. He finally decided on a half-truth for now. "I don't have any intentions right now. She's worried about helping her friend, and her friend should come first. Maybe later, when they've figured out how to help her friend and she has a chance to relax, I'll start by seeing if she wants to get a coffee or something. If she doesn't want anything more than that coffee, fine. If she does, that's fine, too. It's all going to be her choice."

The dark man – odd how that was how Sam viewed him, when his own hair was just as dark, his own skin quite a bit darker – said nothing, just met his gaze unblinkingly. Suddenly Sam had a feeling that those eyes, as black as his own, were seeing straight into his soul. It was a highly disconcerting feeling.

Just as he was starting to feel the urge to squirm, the other man finally blinked. "How…enlightening," he murmured. He raised an eyebrow again, his lips quirked in a slightly cruel half-smile. "Hermione hates the idea of anyone's will being taken away from them, even by nature…she'll be absolutely _thrilled_ to learn that you're bound to her, that you must go wherever she goes or risk unimaginable agony…but I don't think I'll tell her. Instead, I will leave that to you. I cannot wait to see her reaction to this…imprinting."

* * *

How was that? And how did you like my disclaimer? Was everyone able to figure it out? Also, does anyone feel like things are moving kind of slow with Sam & Hermione? Let me know.

RP13


	9. Chapter 9

****Greetings, dear readers, and welcome to another update of Witchy, Witchy Wolf!

Disclaimer: Not mine. Nobody and nothing. Everything comes from JKR and Ms. Meyer.

Had a complaint that my disclaimers are too long. Was that short enough for you? Be warned, they won't all be short like this, because I like changing them up.

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**Chapter Nine**

Hermione re-entered the house and returned to Luna's side where the blonde was seated comfortably in the same armchair she herself had occupied earlier during her explanation. "What was that all about, Hermione?" Luna inquired with her typical slightly dreamy expression, which was somewhat marred by the faint paleness of her face and the circles under her eyes which had appeared several days ago.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It seems my fear that it was a Death Eater was, in fact, somewhat accurate. Severus somehow managed to track us all the way from England, though what the hell he's doing travelling by magic all the way over here when he should be limiting his activity is beyond me. He Apparated somewhere near the end of the driveway and Sam and Paul heard it. Sam ran to confront him about the time I Apparated to confront him, too. Needless to say, neither Sam nor I caught him off-guard and he managed to Disarm me as well as trip Sam up and force him out of his wolf form before revealing himself. Now he and Sam are behaving like a pair of overgrown crows with all their posturing, and who knows how long they'll be at it before they decide to finally join us."

Her vivid descriptions as well as her annoyed expression amused the vampires and Jake to no end, though they were also all a bit wary at the idea of a wizard who could apparently incapacitate both the Alpha and his powerful imprint. Hermione must have seen their expressions, because she raised an eyebrow and said, "Hm. It seems _now_ you're worried."

Several of the vampires were confused about this, and she noticed. Before Emmett could do more than open his mouth, about to ask what she meant, she said, "When I was demonstrating my own magic, the spells I used were benign. They represent the more…magical, for lack of a better term…aspects of a witch or wizard's abilities. But the only idea you've had about the less pleasant things we can do is based off of what I've told you about the war. You haven't been as concerned about me because you've only seen me cast pretty, pleasant magic. Don't forget I killed a vampire with extra abilities, like the ones some of you have, with only this stick I carry in my hand. I sent a Killing Curse at him, which made his flesh crack, and then a Reductor Curse, which blasted him apart, and then I set him on fire. And now you're learning that here comes a wizard who is capable of forcing the Alpha, the strongest member of the pack, back into his vulnerable human form and incapacitating me. I think Severus and I need to give a demonstration of exactly what a witch or wizard is capable of so that you know to be careful. The world's mythical beings aren't limited to vampires like yourselves and shape-shifters. And witches and wizards appear to be normal human beings. Aside from, apparently, our smell, which must be the magic you're scenting. There isn't a magical community here in Forks, but there is one just an hour away in Port Angeles. You've probably encountered witches and wizards before without ever knowing it."

Before anyone else could say anything, the front door opened, and Sam, Severus, and surprisingly, Paul, stepped in. Hermione wondered at the impassive look on Sam's face and the almost imperceptible gleam of anticipation in Severus's eyes. She was even more confused when, as Sam moved over to stand near her, the anticipation in the dark wizard's eyes was joined by something that seemed like triumph.

The eyes of all the vampires were now on Severus, who still stood in the doorway to the living room in silence, black eyes appraising everyone in the room as they watched him warily. He seemed to notice the wariness the vampires regarded him with, and he looked to Hermione, one eyebrow raised.

She smiled at him, but spoke to the other occupants of the room rather than him. "This is Severus Snape. He was one of my teachers and mentors at Hogwarts. He is the Potions Master and had a vital role in the war." To Severus she explained, "This is the family I learned about. The family of vampires with a half-vampire child who was born to a human mother who survived the birth until she could be changed. When I arrived, in order to make them understand what happened to Luna and how I knew what was going on, I had to explain what I am. That led to an explanation of the war and our roles in it. I didn't give them many details about you, only that you were a spy who pretended to work for Voldemort while you were really working against him. The rest is yours to explain as you see fit."

He nodded as his eyes continued to scan the room, until they landed on Bella. "I take it you are the mother she speaks of?" he asked her slowly.

She nodded, not speaking, her dark red eyes distrustful. Almost imperceptibly, her husband shifted closer to her. But Severus said nothing else to her. Instead, he shifted his attention to Carlisle. "And you are the doctor who saved her until she could give birth and then change?"

Carlisle nodded. "I am a doctor, yes. But it was not only I who helped to save her." Severus waved his hand impatiently as if to disregard the importance of semantics, but Carlisle continued before the wizard could say anything. "It was actually Jacob Black's initial thought in the first place, but through my family's connections and resources, we were able to procure a supply of blood for Bella to drink, as the pregnancy was causing her body to reject human food."

Severus's eyebrows snapped together. "Blood?" he repeated dangerously. "_Human_ blood?"

"Donated," Carlisle supplied quickly, correcting his unintentional omission. "My connections as a doctor and my family's financial resources enabled us to obtain blood without having to harm anyone. As a rule our family's diet consists purely of animal blood, but we thought human blood would be best while Bella was pregnant."

Hermione looked to Luna where the blonde sat in the armchair, and fought the urge to smile. Luna's expression was one of only very mild surprise, the kind experienced upon looking out the window only to discover a light shower of rain in the place of sunshine only minutes before. "So I'll do better if I drink blood? Well, I suppose that only makes sense, then, doesn't it?" She looked at Hermione, and added, "I'm surprised we didn't think of it before. After all, Tonks could only stomach steaks cooked very rare when she was pregnant with Teddy, remember?"

Hermione stared at her in shock. "Merlin's beard, Luna, you're right!" She ignored the comical looks on the faces of the vampires and the three wolf-boys at the extreme oddity of the term in favor of exclaiming, "I can't _believe_ we didn't think of it before!"

"What's this? Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, _didn't_ think of something obvious?" Severus drawled, causing the vampires, Jake, and Paul to look at him questioningly and Sam to glare at him while only just suppressing the urge to growl. And it seemed the wizard noticed, for her sent a smug smirk at the Alpha, and apparently, the young witch did as well. She patted Sam on the arm soothingly, but her next comment was directed at Severus.

"Oh, shut up, Sev, it's not like you thought of it, either, or you would have told us," she responded loftily.

Though the Cullens and the Quileutes had a vague feeling of surprise at her speaking to her former teacher that way, the three magical folk knew it was a testament to how much they had gone through together and how their relationship with each other had grown that Severus did not rake her over the coals for speaking to him that way. A comment like that during her school years would have won her a month's worth of detentions scrubbing cauldrons in the Potions classroom. With a toothbrush.

"Take care how you speak to your Professor, Miss Granger, or I will be forced to give you detention," he declared with a scowl, though Hermione and Luna both knew he was just blowing smoke.

She snorted. "You're not my Professor anymore, Severus, and after everything we've done for each other I'd like to see you try to put me in detention."

Sam suppressed the urge to childishly tack on "So there!" to the end of his imprint's sentence.

Before Severus could retort, Hermione turned her attention back to the Cullens. "So do you still have any of the blood that you used for Bella?" she asked, barely managing to suppress the tendency to be demanding in the face of her excitement.

Carlisle nodded and disappeared, returning moments later with a Styrofoam cup with an opaque plastic lid over the top with an opaque straw stuck through the hole in the lid. He handed it to Luna, who promptly defeated the purpose of the lid by cracking it open to peer inside. Hermione rolled her eyes with a small sigh and a small smile that belied her exasperated expression. Everyone in the room watched as Luna took a deep breath through her nose before exhaling.

"Well, I must say I never thought I would ever be drinking blood from a cup. But there are a handful of scholars who believe that the consumption of human blood helps purify one's magical aura to be more receptive to those of any Silvery Starspurts that might be floating around," she said, tone perfectly serious. Hermione, standing behind Luna, shook her head silently at all the vampires who would have opened their mouths to ask what a Silvery Starspurt was; they all closed their mouths. She glanced at Severus in time to see him rolling his own eyes, sans smile.

Luna replaced the lid on the cup and took a long draw from the straw. When she pulled her lips away, there was a drop of blood clinging to her lower lip. The only sign of Jake's distaste was a slight wrinkling of his nose; Sam and Paul both tried, with varying degrees of success, to suppress a shudder. It was Bella's reaction, however, that brought a reaction out of Hermione and Severus. Her eyes zeroed in on the drop of blood clinging to Luna's lip before dropping down to the cup still full of blood in the blonde witch's hands. She shifted almost imperceptibly, and the change in the room was instantaneous. Hermione and Severus's wands came up as they both moved to stand in front of Luna while Edward's hand closed over his wife's wrist.

The reactions were enough to draw the vampire out of her thrall; she looked up guiltily. "Sorry," she muttered. "I'm still pretty new to the life of a vampire. Sometimes I come close to forgetting to control myself."

"You come _close?"_ Severus demanded, wand still up, as was Hermione's.

It was actually Jasper who answered, oddly enough. "She has an astonishing level of control for such a new vampire. About drove me crazy in the beginning. Since I pick up on emotions with my ability, I could always sense when she was upset and I kept expecting her to lose control of her temper and attack someone, but she never did."

Edward picked up the story. "When I took her for her first hunt after being turned, we found a group of elk that would serve for her first meal. But before either of us could move toward the elk, the wind changed and blew the scent of some humans nearby in our direction. She took off after the scent, and the only thing that stopped her was the realization that I was following her. She turned to warn me off, and then the wind changed again, blowing the scent away from us. She took off again, this time in another direction, away from the humans. She shouldn't have been able to do that. She shouldn't even have been able to be distracted from the hunt once she picked up the scent of humans, never mind run away afterward. Her level of control is unheard of in a vampire so new."

Both Severus and Hermione considered this as they finally lowered their wands. "Be that as it may," Severus said finally. "I would prefer if as few of you as possible are present when Luna must drink. I will accept the presence of Dr. Cullen, as the oldest and most experienced, and perhaps Mrs. Cullen, but no one else."

A sucking noise from behind the witch and wizard drew everyone's attention to Luna. She'd been the only person in the entire room who hadn't reacted to Bella's reaction to the drop of blood on Luna's lip, and while Hermione and Severus had been facing off with everyone else, she'd quietly finished the blood in the cup. It was the noise of the last of the blood being drawn up through the straw that drew everyone's attention.

"Well. Oddly enough, I feel quite refreshed," she said candidly.

Ignoring the expressions of distaste on the faces of the three Quileutes, Hermione looked at her friend. Sure enough, there was fresh color in the blonde's face where there hadn't been for far too long, and the shadows under her eyes seemed to have lightened.

The sight made Hermione feel as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. "I'm so glad, Luna," she murmured, struggling to keep her voice from breaking and her emotions from overwhelming her.

Luna must have picked up on the true depths of her friend's relief anyway, because she stood and pulled Hermione into a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're my friend, Hermione. I'd be lost without you."

They embraced for a long moment, and then Luna finally pulled away. "Well. I've met the Cullens and Jacob, and of course I know Severus – hello, by the way, Severus – but I've not met Jacob's friends yet!"

The two witches turned to face first Sam, who was closest, having once more come to stand near Hermione. Luna saw how her friend blinked in surprise at the tall man's nearness, and when she saw Hermione's cheeks tinge pink, she was delighted. "This is Sam," Hermione said steadily, as if his presence weren't making her blush. "Sam, this is my friend Luna."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sam," Luna said cheerily.

"Likewise, ma'am," he responded, his deep voice slow and sure.

"And over there is Paul," Hermione added, indicating Paul standing in the doorway to the room, a short ways behind and to the right of Sam. "He, Sam, and Jacob are all members of the Quileute tribe and the pack of shape-shifters that…resides there…" Her voice trailed off as she realized that Luna and Paul were staring at each other raptly, as if everyone else in the room had faded away.

She turned to look inquisitively at Sam and found him watching the two with surprise, but then he turned and looked back at her. And when she met his gaze, she found traces of the same raptness that was currently plain as day on Paul's face deep within the depth's of Sam's midnight eyes. It was similar to the look on Jacob's face when he looked at Renesmee, only with Paul and Sam, an intense, fiery passion accompanied the sense of unconditional caring. What on Earth was going on with these boys?

A slight shifting movement drew Hermione's eyes next to Severus, who was watching Paul and Luna with a deep frown on his face. Well, he was watching Paul with a scowl. Then his eyes shifted to Sam, and his scowl deepened.

Hermione's sense of confusion increased. What was going on with the Quileute men and what had Severus picked up on about it that bothered him?

"All right, what's going on?" she finally demanded, unable to stand it anymore. Everyone's attention turned to her, Paul's and Luna's with reluctance. "Why do Paul and Sam keep looking at Luna and me like that, and what do you know about it, Severus?"

Her demand was met with a chuckle from one of the vampires. They all turned to see Emmett with a wide, mischievous grin on his face, rubbing his palms together in anticipation. "This is gonna be good!"

Hermione frowned; the wolves in question both growled. Severus, however, had a smirk on his face. Hermione could almost picture him leaning back in an armchair with his hands clasped behind his head as he prepared to enjoy the show.

She turned back to the wolves. "Outside," she barked. "Now."

"Now, Hermione, you know we'll still be able to hear you," the still grinning Emmett admonished playfully.

"No, you won't," she replied with finality as she held up her wand. She had the satisfaction of seeing his face fall.

"Dammit," he said.

She led the way outside, grasping Luna's hand and pulling her gently along. Severus and the three Quileute youth followed.

Once they were all outside, she waved her wand silently, casting _Muffliato_ so that all the vampires would hear would be a faint buzzing. What none of them realized, with the possible exception of Severus, was that there was one vampire who could still hear just about everything going on, at least within the heads of the three wolves and the blonde witch. The other two, unfortunately, were the ones whose thoughts he most wanted to hear but couldn't.

"All right. Tell me what's going on. What has gotten into you three?" she asked the three young men.

Instead of answering her right away, they traded glances with each other, seeming to share a silent conversation. By their facial expressions, the two younger men seemed to decide on something and then they looked to their leader, who nodded.

"Our tribe has a legend that goes with that of the shape-shifting," he began slowly. "A legend regarding the way the members of the pack find their soul-mates, if you will. You'll need to hear the entire story of how the pack came to be to understand fully. One theory is that the magic ensures that the pack member it happens to will find the one most suited to producing stronger wolves in the future. This magic is called imprinting, and the wolf can't control when or even whether it happens, or who he imprints on." He took a deep breath and forged on, trying not to read anything into Hermione's expression until he'd finished.

"When a wolf imprints, the invisible bonds that tie him to the Earth, to the land, the tribe, the pack, all shift and tie him to her. She is suddenly what matters the most in the world, and because of that, he becomes whatever she most needs him to be at that moment. A friend, an older brother, a teacher…a lover." With those last few words, his eyes caught and held Hermione's eyes, trying to will her to accept him as a lover as he burned to be.

"And the three of you…you've imprinted?" _On us? _was left unspoken.

He nodded slowly. "Jake imprinted on Renesmee, within hours after her birth. For now he is like her older brother, best friend, and beloved uncle all rolled into one. Someday, if she wants, he will be more. Paul will give Luna everything he can, and meanwhile, he will leave it for her to decide what she wants from him." His eyes burned with promise, reaching out and ensnaring her, asking her to let him show her what it really meant to be loved unconditionally. "And I…well, I am yours. Plain and simple. I'm yours to do with whatever you want."

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_Wow..._now who wouldn't love for someone like big, strong, handsome man Sam to say _that_ to them? I wonder what Hermione's reaction will be. Will she go weak in the knees? Will she blush and stammer and say something that makes absolutely no sense? Or will she try to say something smooth and sophisticated that just comes out sounding dumb? I'm leaning more towards both 1 and 2. Come on, folks, share with me your thoughts. I'm no Legillimens like Snape, after all. I need verbal...er, written...validation from you all!

RP13


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